Supporting Material Translation

While translated information is added to several relevant places in the encyclopedia, it is centralized here for easy access and tracking. Contributing translators are listed above image; we owe them everything! We still need your help to translate some other items; see Material Requiring Translation.

The upper left screenshot (with a monster or tech name) and the screenshot featuring a Goon battle in Manoria Cathedral were selected for translation, as the Cathedral screenshot contained unique dialogue.

The upper left screenshot says "Triple Tech" and "Arc Impulse", while the middle one reads, "Well, it's about time to get started. This will be your grave." or "Now, let's get on with it! Welcome to your grave!!"

The CT Prerelease is a beta version of Trigger distributed by Square in 1994. Check out this incredibly fascinating look from GlitterBerri at an earlier stage of development, with all sorts of goodies that didn't make it in or were changed for the final!

Chrono Trigger, the epic collaboration of Yuji Horii, Akira Toriyama, and Hironobu Sakaguchi that is dominating all current hit charts, is an extremely entertaining work, packed with highlights. Here we present a special round-table discussion with the staff who contributed to its development as we delve into Chrono Trigger to find its appeal.

Excitement over the story and new battle system!

Our hero Crono's adventure begins when he goes to save a girl who was sucked into a time warp created by a teleportation device.

Such is the very simple start of Square's newest game, Chrono Trigger. But that simplicity is actually not to be trusted—the details of this story, that gradually reveals itself as you travel through time to each different era, far surpass the story's creation. It is truly a first-rate piece of entertainment.

Let us explain the two points that bring out the fun of Chrono Trigger.

First is the mystery of a time travel story in which adventuring through various eras influences later eras, and the situations change again and again. The statue of the hero worshiped in the fiend village changes in response to battles fought in the past! And the stingy, greedy village elder... and the desert... and the adventurer... nngh, I want to write them. But I won't. I want you to see it all for yourself as you fully enjoy playing the game. The bartering system in the prehistoric era is fun (you trade items), and the most minor bits of dialogue really hit home. Anyway, I recommend going back to later eras every time you do something. It's really very good how the eras are altered and the story changes.

The second point is the lively battle scenes that make the game seem like an action RPG. It's a turn-based RPG, but the field doesn't change, and the monsters move around the battle scenes. The characters' actions are very distinct as well. Frankly, you could say that the charm of Akira Toriyama's characters shines more and more, precisely because of this battle system. The appeal that the designer put into the characters is drawn out 100%, and in that sense, you might say that this is a true character game. I really want you to experience this thrilling adventure RPG.

Captions:

The trial scene, with its elaborate graphics.
This line makes my heart skip a beat. Wow. (Line: The person I hate most? My dad, of course.)
Who lives in the house in the desert?
The Great Adventurer Toma rests here. (Line: Crono, long time no see.)
You really feel presence in the battle scenes. They're turn-based, but suddenly you're at the edge of your seat!

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Development Team Special Talk

The battles are Chrono Trigger's greatest secret.

First, I'd like to ask about the biggest special feature: the battles.

Higuchi: Before, like in Final Fantasy for example, when you're walking around and you run into monsters, the screen would go fuzzy and it would cut to a battle scene, but that doesn't happen in Chrono Trigger.

So is it like Secret of Mana?

Higuchi: No, Secret of Mana is a real-time battle RPG type, where you control the characters and slice things up.... This is a turn-based RPG. This is the first time we've done anything like that.

Kamata: In appearance, it does look like Secret of Mana, but as for what you're doing, it's closer to Final Fantasy.

Was that really hard?

Higuchi: It was hard. We had to meet a lot of conditions, which is why we hadn't ever done it before.

You had been cutting to a new scene.

Higuchi: Yes. This all started when we decided to take on those conditions from the beginning.

Because that way is more natural than cutting to a new scene?

Higuchi: That's right. And also, the battle backgrounds, like the town or the castle ruins, can stay the way they are on the field.

So you're saying that before you had just one image to express the battle backgrounds before, but now you can just show them as they are?

Kamata: That's right; so the world's presence and things like that are completely different, and it can draw the players in because it's like they're really moving, fighting, and living inside that world. And on top of that, it's not an action battle, so people who aren't so good with action can still play.

When you do that, what kind of areas give you problems? For example, the monster graphics show up on the field, so you can't have monsters that are too big, maybe?

Kato: No, we do have big monsters. In the boss battles. They take up about half the screen.

So then do you make them move very forcefully?

Higuchi: They're not very forceful (laugh). Like one part of it will be kind of vague. It was really hard seeing how far we could stretch the limits of V-RAM capacity and processing speed. Like, there wasn't enough V-RAM, so we could only show so much, or we couldn't draw something this huge or make it move.

May I ask for more specifics?

Higuchi: We would get something from the field programmers, and the battle took place on it just as it was, but it was incredibly difficult to deliver it well so that the battle takes over smoothly and in a way that isn't obvious, and do it all in a way that wouldn't destroy the field programming and graphics. At first we couldn't really pull it off, and we'd destroy the monsters. Until now, in Final Fantasy type battles, there would be about a second of darkness, and a lot of things happened in that one second, and we were able to turn it into a battle scene. But this time, we couldn't do anything like that at all. We couldn't turn it black; we had to change it in a snap. That was extremely hard.

So it was an experiment that had never been tried before. As a programmer, how do you feel now that you've completed it?

Higuchi: I've worked on Final Fantasy up until now, and it was really more of a behind-the-scenes job, and what I did didn't show up on the surface very much. For example, my calculations would be processed where no one could see them...

Captions:

The sound of the bats sucking blood is a nice touch.
Five elite chosen to represent the Chrono development team of over 30 members.

Creator's Profile:

Katsuhisa Higuchi

Programmer. A veteran programmer who has worked on the Final Fantasy series for years. One of the people who toiled from beginning to end on the battle programming for Chrono Trigger. We hear that he became a father while working on Chrono Trigger.

Akihiko Matsui

Planning. After working on Final Fantasy and then completing Romancing Saga 2, he moved to the Chrono Trigger team in the middle of its development. He was in charge of moving the monsters in battle.

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Higuchi: ...and the only thing that actually showed up on screen were the numbers. Then this time, I did things like dimensions for the first time, and of course I struggled at first. Then somehow the schedule got tight, and I realized I had a mountain of work to do, and that's when I really hated it (laugh). But after getting through that and finding a kind of an end in sight, for the first time, I thought, “Wow, look at the great game I made.” But at first, it was nothing but hard, and there were a lot of times I wanted to give up (laugh).

But you started out thinking, “I think it'll work if I do this,” right?

Higuchi: Hmm, of course I did think that to an extent, but you don't know that it will work out the way you expect. It's that gap that's really hard. Actually, we were hoping to make something where the monsters moved better, and you could move around a lot doing the smallest actions, so it would move the same way as an action game, but the Super Nintendo had its limits—the processing speed was slow, there's only so much V-RAM, and we took a lot of time dealing with things like that.

You just mentioned the monsters. It seems like there aren't so many of them?

Matsui: Numberwise, they probably aren't that many.

Kamata: But the pattern numbers...

I see. Each character has a lot of different patterns.

Matsui: That's right. Because they need a pattern to do anything. You can pretty much just reverse right and left, but they move looking toward and away from the screen, so compared to Final Fantasy, where you only see them from the side, they have to have a lot more patterns.

So you're saying there are fewer monsters, but it takes the same amount of data because of all the patterns they have.

Kamata: No, this way uses up a lot more data.

Matsui: The amount of data we attached to everything went up quite a bit.

The side-view characters we've seen traditionally don't have so much data?

Higuchi: Because you only see them from one side. And in Chrono Trigger, you get more than just one side. They move around, and they have their attack patterns, so their graphic data is overwhelmingly greater.

Kato: The enemies in a normal RPG are just the one still picture. And if a really cool picture shows up, then it moves just a little bit in the battle. In this game, it's not like that. The enemies really exist, and they move around like the characters, and it takes an enormous amount of data to animate them. That's just how alive the enemies are.

Ideas are born from planning meetings with everyone participating

The basic premise is that it's about time travel. Where did that idea come from?

Kamata: At a general meeting. We wanted to start with something completely new, and we had a general meeting to solicit ideas of what kind of thing we wanted to do, and I guess someone suggested it there. They said, “I want to do something like a time patrol.” Then everybody thought that sounded interesting, so we threw ideas around, trying to think of scenarios that handled time.

It seems like it would be really hard to check for bugs on something like this. That goes for programming, too, but do you have to also check the story?

Kamata: What was hard about it was that we knew there were bugs, but when we fixed them, unexpected results would show up in other places. When you're working with something where the story only keeps going to the end, you only need to check what happens after that point, but here, there are places where it uses the thing you fixed and something happens before that point.

Right, if you open the treasure chest with the crest on it in the past, then it's not there in the future. I thought it was done very well.

Kato: On the other hand, if you open it in the future, and then go to the past, it's still there.

Ah!

Kato: When you think about the flow of time, you can do things like that. If you go get it in the future first, then if you go to the past, you can get it again.

I see, so that's how it is.

Kato: I think that once you see the entire flow of the story and understand it like that, you can think, “The way time flows, it should be like this,” and make all kinds of sweet discoveries.

But for the people making it, that would be incredibly hard.

Kato: Indeed. But the fun comes first when we're making it.

So did everybody get really excited at that planning meeting?

Kato: Actually, I came to Square from outside...

Captions:

All these monsters appear and move around in one battle.

Creator's Profile:

Masato Kato

Planning. After leaving another software company, Chrono Trigger was his first work with Square. He was in charge of story and events. He says that he had never experienced such intense planning meetings before, and they really left an impression on him.

Yasuhiko Kamata

Graphics. After working on Secret of Mana, he moved to the Chrono Trigger team. Mainly in charge of background graphics. He wracked his brain pulling the team along while managing group work--delegating jobs to the graphic team and creating entire images.

Yasunori Mitsuda

Music. After his training years (in his own words) of doing sound effects for Secret of Mana and sound engineering for Romancing Saga 2, he was finally able to attain is long-held dream of composing and was responsible for nearly all the music in Chrono Trigger. He used the full extent of his talent by composing up to 80 pieces.

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Kato: ...so this was my first game with Square. And a lot of people started from scratch to make it. So we were making the stories and this giant group of like 30 got together and clamored about at every meeting. It was pretty rough. My stomach would start hurting at the time (laugh).

Was it the first time you'd experienced anything like that?

Kato: Yes. Until then, I'd worked in small groups, where we'd just go ahead and make something, and it was like, “Okay, I'm going to do it like this.” Everyone working together is a pro in and of itself, but we'd have to change direction because of opinions that came up when we had meetings. But when meetings were taken up mostly with, “What the heck is this guy talking about?” kind of opinions (laugh), I would almost snap. There were times I just barely managed to get through by holding myself back. Well, I think everyone in every division is the same way. Because at the general meetings, we'd also argue about the graphics. But there were some really painful things involving the scenarios.

Higuchi: At first, your division has nothing to do with it, after all.

Kato: It's incredible. Everyone just says whatever they want without even thinking. That part was really hard to deal with, but once the basic parts are set, then everyone is left to their own devices to an extent, so it's like a battle of the game sense and abilities of the people working together on the various game events. It's very high-energy, and creates something with a lot of suspense, and that part of it is especially fun—it makes me happy. It's like we were fumbling around in the dark, trying to find the possibilities of this media, what we can do only in video games, but not make a normal, straightforward epic.

Wringing out every drop of ability in the limited time allotted.

Mr. Mitsuda, you were in charge of music. I understand this was your first game?

Mitsuda: Until now, I did sound effects for Secret of Mana and engineering for Romancing Saga 2. They never let me do music before. That was my training period (laugh).

What are your thoughts on your first game?

Mitsuda: Boy, it was tough. It was in development for two years, but I worked on Romancing Saga 2 in the middle of it, so I did it in the one year that was left. In the beginning, the music was ahead of everything. But towards the end, everyone had passed me by, and finally, the music was finished last (laugh).

Matsui: There are times when we're doing it and we realize there really isn't enough music. And we start talking like, “I really do want a musical theme here,” and we make a ton of requests at once. When we're working on something as a big group, we can immediately divide it all up, but with music, it all focuses on one person.

Mitsuda: The number one goal this time was to make something that you could listen to over and over without getting sick of it, so each piece is really long. Normally, the music loops after a minute, but all of my pieces are more than two minutes. So no one gets tired of them, but it's tough writing two minutes of music. Well, it takes twice as long as usual. Then in the end, the number of pieces needed jumped dramatically, and I got so busy I couldn't do anything. Anyway, there is a sense that I accomplished as much as I possibly could at this point.

Speaking in terms of the impressions I got playing, this game had a slightly different feel from the Final Fantasy and Romancing Saga games that I've played. I thought it was interesting.

Kamata: Looking at the consumers' reactions, I think they're loving it like crazy.

Mitsuda: Yeah. The reactions weren't bad. But around December 20 of last year, when I needed so much more music all at once, I was at a total loss (laugh). I wrote the last battle, and then a long one, about four minutes, for the end credits, and I thought I was done, then they'd say, “Haven't you written the sub-boss music yet?” (laugh). I stayed at my office for four days without sleep to write the music for the last sub-boss, but I really wanted to run away. Well, I used up every ounce of my abilities, so anything I have left to do will have to wait until next time.

Are there plans for a sequel?

Mitsuda: Hmm, I wonder (laugh). But I really don't know. I don't want to do it (laugh).

The music really is done by only a small number, huh?

Mitsuda: That's right. At our company, it's almost all done by one person.

About how many people work on the graphics?

Kamata: This time, we ultimately got help from some of the first development division, but when it's just our fourth division, it's about fifteen people. Including the first division, it's about twenty.

The first division? You mean, once they were done with Final Fantasy.

Kamata: Yes, they happened to have some free time. In autumn, we got eight more bits, but there was no way we could handle them. Game graphics aren't done once the picture's drawn. You draw the picture, and then you have to turn it into data and then process it into the map. That processing eats up all the time. Drawing the pictures takes a relatively short amount of time, but all the time after that is taken up with making that data afterward, and we weren't able to get to those extra bits we were given.

It seems like this game really emphasized the feel of light. Were there any specific goals you had for this project?

Kamata: Good question. Basically, we did have the fact that it was Mr. Akira Toriyama, but personally, I think the expressions of Ridley Scott, the director of Alien, with the rays of light and the smoke coming up are very beautiful, and I wanted to make that the main feel of the game.

Captions:

The sub-boss that caused the composer four days of all-nighters.
The light gives the screen a feeling of solemnity.
One of the highlights is this statue of Magus that changes based on battles fought in the past.

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I think the music has a lot to do with this, too, but it has a dank feeling. Is that what we might call the overall tone?

Kamata: To be honest, the first thing I thought was, “We need to make this something that's not Final Fantasy or Mana.” I wanted to make it something that wasn't either of those but still very much a Square game. So first I thought about the in between. It is dank, but it's not as dark as Final Fantasy.

And it's not as bright as Mana?

Kamata: Right. I think that Mana has white mixed in, like it's a pastel.

Individuality, cooperation, and curiosity. These are indispensable traits for a game developer.

Finally, this is technically supposed to be a personnel recruitment article, so please give a message to those aiming to work for Square.

Higuchi: If you're not motivated, don't bother (laugh).

Matsui: I'd like some interesting people to come work here. You don't have to be almighty, but if you have just one talent, even if it's really pointless, then be really well-versed in it.

What about you, Mr. Kato? Since you've only made one game since you started here.

Kato: You must be able to talk about normal things in a logical way (laugh). That's a major prerequisite. Of course, you need to have your own vision and game concepts, and have a clear idea of how you personally would want to make games, but before you get there, the very minimum requirement is to be able to talk normally and make games with other people (laugh).

What about the graphics representative?

Kamata: I think being able to draw is a good prerequisite, and you should like playing with computers. I think the graphics are rapidly going to move to CG, and in the next generation of consoles, they'll be completely CG. We need someone who would be like, “I wanna try this! I wanna try that!”

And what about the underpopulated music division?

Mitsuda: First, we need someone who can go along with new ideas. All of our musicians are idiots who aren't afraid to play along with crazy ideas (laugh). And it would probably be good to be interested in all kinds of things. I don't think they'll let anyone in who doesn't listen to lots of different music and think, “Oh, this is nice,” or, “I'd like to try that.” But it takes more time than regular music, so I think the workload would be really tough. You'd really have to be somebody who can stay awake for four days (laugh); I think it would be good to get somebody who can get by on little sleep.

Thank you very much.

Captions:

The team dissolves when the game is complete. When their break is over, they each have different games waiting for them.
The colorful events are one of the strong points of working as a team.

Two members of the Chrono Trigger team discuss the secret story behind the game!

It’s a scorching hot TALK BATTLE!!

Y. Horii VS H. Sakaguchi

DREAM PROJECT

Event ideas, character design, the real story is just inside! See the dynamic relationship between the developers revealed as we present this information to you!

They are, of course, Yuuji Horii and Hironobu Sakaguchi, masters of the Chrono Trigger world!! We conducted this special interview for our readers!

Let the interview begin!!

The game and its graphics were beyond belief.

—Let’s start the interview off with something basic. After completing the game and playing the final version, what were your thoughts? Do you think you were able to accomplish what you set out to do?

Horii:
In my mind, the game went beyond our expectations. There were highlights that, in the end, were more than I thought they’d be. The scene where you’re going into the jail – just the feeling I got from entering the dungeon surprised me. Seeing the scrolling background of the passage left a deep impression on me. Not just the mountains in the background; the inside as well.

Sakaguchi:
Our colleagues who worked on the graphics were also talking about that. If the prison had been done in the normal style, it would have been rather devoid of colour.

—Horii, would you say that he dungeon had the best visuals, in your opinion?

Horii:
Yes. The graphics were excellent, if that’s what you mean. I’m not a professional artist, so I appreciate someone else going in there for me.

—Sakaguchi, how about yourself? Do you find that there was a place that went far beyond what you had imagined?

Sakaguchi:
Something like the stained glass of the courtroom. That part was amazing. At the beginning I imagined the courthouse to be suspended in the sky, connected by a floating bridge to the mountains. I wasn’t thinking about the contrast with the light, that was created the efforts of the staff who drew it.

Horii:
As for this game, I’m only involved with the plot. If there’s a fairground, I just write that there’s a fairground; I don’t write down any of the details. Then the staff brainstorm and come up with a variety of attractions to put in. With entertainment like a robot battle and Square’s ride, there are many things with which to amuse yourself. I think it lent a certain freshness to the game to have everyone working together.

Ideas were brainstormed under the orders of the director.

—Do you think that working with each other, there were parts of the game that reflected your personalities?

Horii:
Off the top of my head, I think that the fairground events were very Sakaguchi-esque. Characters like Gonzalez, especially.

Sakaguchi:
I was the one who created Gonzales. (laughter)

—Is that so? (laughter)

Horii:
Suddenly bursting into song…

Sakaguchi:
Actually, I was also behind the primeval dance next door. (laughter)

Horii:
It’s a good thing that I started dancing to it too.

Sakaguchi:
Actually, Kitase, who was directing the game, was the one who asked me to put something in there.

—Was it because you would always say that to him when you were the director and now your positions have been reversed?

Sakaguchi:
That’s right. (laughter) Kitase only recently became director, so he was always saying “Sakaguchi, Sakaguchi, I’m really sorry about this, but since I’m the director now, I’m going to have to ask you to do this.” (bursts out laughing)

Square had a variety of new ideas – Horii

Chrono Trigger had a degree of freedom never-before-seen in games.

Sakaguchi:
There were times that I felt under pressure to make as much of a Toriyama-style world as possible, but contrary to my expectations I found that it was okay to play around with Toriyama’s universe. It felt like anything was possible.

Horii:
Because of this, even in really serious scenes there’s a lot of silliness. Take the part where you defeat the Dragon Tank after escaping from the prison. The enemies hanging off the edge link together to form a human bride. (laughter)

—Even with the character names, like “Sir Krawlie.” (laughing)

Sakaguchi:
That would be impossible with something like Final Fantasy. It would be rejected immediately. (laughter)

Horii:
We had a lot more freedom than we would with Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest. We weren’t worried about the feel of the world; it would be whatever we ended up making.

Sakaguchi:
It was a totally new game.

—Sakaguchi-san, would you say there was a part where Horii’s personality shone through?

Sakaguchi:
Yes and no. When I read the faxes he sent me, I was surprised. They were written like flowcharts, and the response time showed an almost user-like mentality. I thought it was amazing.

They wanted to make the most of time travel.

—I thought I had played till the end, but after the Undersea Palace the game suddenly awarded the player a lot more freedom. You culd go around doing all sorts of things. What was your intention there, seeing as the story was so much linear before?

Sakaguchi:
FFVI wast he same. The style had its pros and cons. We had several events that had to be completed using time travel, so we wanted to make the most of them. Also, when we came up with ideas for bosses that you had to defeat by hitting their weak points, we began to realize we couldn’t put them into a linear story. Players would get stuck and need to consult a walkthrough. As a result, I wanted to make use of those ideas in areas that were optional for the player. The game is accordingly easier to understand than Final Fantasy, and in order to help the player progress through the game we made the Brink of Time (End of Time). We created it so the player could go there to receive hints and carry on.

—I feel that there is one particular optional event that you’d like the player to experience most. There were a lot of events that caused time paradoxes or made use of time travel, weren’t there?

Sakaguchi:
Those were the most popular Chrono-like parts according to the testers as well. Though surely if you just skipped through the story at that pace from the beginning, you wouldn’t be able to follow it, right?

Horii:
Isn’t that right. It wouldn’t make sense.

Sakaguchi:
Because the Chrono Trigger world could be understood through a linear story, I thought players would enjoy events that caused time paradoxes and required traveling through time.

Enjoy the differences between the 1st and 2nd playthrough! – Sakaguchi

The second playthrough will feel different.

—Chrono Trigger has the option for a second playthrough using your progress from the first game. Was this so players could enjoy the multiple endings?

Sakaguchi:
That was one of our intentions, but there was also something we didn’t expect…the testers themselves felt as though they wanted to travel through time again. They wated to start a new game, go to Leene Fair, and time travel once more. That was actually the good thing about time travel, I think. In normal RPGs, the second time through, it feels like a chore to play all the way from the beginning again. With the New Game + you’re able to keep your characters’ strength, so your sense of battle is different. You feel like time traveling in Chrono Trigger once more.

Horii:
With the options in Chrono Trigger, you often find yourself wondering about what would have happened had you chosen to do something different. The second time through gives you more chances to toy with what people say.

Sakaguchi:
Wherever we could, we tried to make it so that a slight change in your behavior caused subtle differences in people’s reactions, even down to the smallest details. If you feel the changes, I think the second playthrough will hold a whole new interest.

Horii:
For example, even if you’re found guilty during the trial the first time through, you might be found innocent the second time. During the initial playthrough, you won’t be aware of the hole in the dungeon wall; you’ll clear he game wondering what it is. But, later, if you try to clear the game 100%, you’ll go outside and realize that you could have gone out there in the first place. (laughter)

Sakaguchi:
Even just waiting I the dungeon for your punishment to be enforced, you’re able to expand the story.

—You can play through again with a different history. By changing history through your actions, you can change the ending, right?

Sakaguchi:
Everyone will probably play a second time to see the different endings. But multiple endings aside, I think that if you enjoy the differences between playthroughs, you’ll find the second time interesting as well.

You can toy with the subtle changes in people’s reactions – Horii

We’re often asked if we like frogs.

D—The world of Chrono Trigger is so varied that it gives rise to a variety of characters that suit it. Chrono Trigger seems to boast characters that have, until now, never before been seen in games like Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy. Where did those original ideas come from?

Horii:
The staff studied the drawings of Toriyama. They put a lot of effort in. We felt as though we couldn’t let the drawings go to waste.

—One of the protagonists is a frog. Was that your idea, Horii?

Horii:
Toriyama gave us the rough sketch of a frog character had had drawn.

—So what made you decide to use a character like that?

Horii:
For some reason, we had been talking about how we wanted a non-human character.

Sakaguchi:
We’re often asked that. Frogs have appeared before in the Final Fantasy series. People ask if it’s because Square likes frogs! (laughter) But that’s not the reason at all. (laughter)

Horii:
When we were creating the characters, we were thinking about what sort of friends Crono would have in each era. The game’s protagonist is a young boy, so how many females should we have? When Square was working on in the in-battle actions, they thought it would be boring to have only human characters. When trying to think up characters that weren’t human or robot, they started considering the frog. (laughter)

—Easy to understand that development. It has character.

Horii:
There were pigs, too. And monkeys. But they aren’t so different from humans.

I want to better capture the feel of a Toriyama-style world. – Sakaguchi

The events that make you burst into tears are the best.

—Out of all the events, which ones did you two like?

Horii:
It’s a normal part of the story, but there’s a course of action where Marle disappears somehow, you see the resulting future, and you have to do something to prevent it. That’s the start of it all; the rest of the story just stems from it. I like that part.

Sakaguchi:
I really like the episode with Marle and her father. That’s because in this game, contrary to what you’d expect, there are some family issues. (laughter) I like events that, rather than making you cry like in Final Fantasy, make you burst into tears.

No matter what the developers do, the game tends to be difficult.

—For the first time in a while, Sakaguchi designed detailed monsters.

Sakaguchi:
When we were making Final Fantasy III, Aoki, the producer of Chrono Trigger, was the one in charge of the monsters. He’s been poking his nose into it ever since. So, I designed some concepts for monsters, then I, Aoki, and two others crowded into a room and discussed things like needing a barrier to defeat certain types of magic. In this game there are many enemies you have to defeat by hitting their weak points. I think it shows that we like simulations.

—So that means that your personality shone through, Sakaguchi.

Sakaguchi:
At first getting through the game was tough. The testers were saying “You guys are being cruel. Whose idea was this?” It was mine! (laughter) Harsh, right?

Horii:
We developers had managed to make the game too difficult!

Sakaguchi:
It’s always like that the first time, no matter what.

Horii:
It’s because we know too much. The developers think the game’s just right; that they’re being too soft. They’re thinking from their own experience. The puzzles were the same. Lots of players didn’t figure out things we thought they’d get asily.

Sakaguchi:
There were exceptions to where people got stuck, though.

Horii:
Right, the places where players got stuck differed from person to person.

Sakaguchi:
You get to the point where you just need to talk to the person, so why don’t you talk to them? (laughter)

We’ll get Toriyama to draw the world map! (laughter) – Horii

They wanted to release the game by the end of the year.

—It’s hard to hear after everything’s finished, but do you feel there are places where you would have liked to have done something differently?

Sakaguchi:
If we had tried a little harder, we could have reached our goal of releasing the game by the end of the year. (bursts out laughing) It was a little heartbreaking to have to change the release date.

—Can we hear about what you’d like to do if you made a sequel?

Sakaguchi:
The sense of dancing you get from exploring Toriyama’s worlds is a little more difficult to capture than I initially thought. If we can successfully channel that feeling, we’ll be able to create a fantastic world. If we try to do a sequel, I want to perfect that completely.

Horii:
And we’ll get Toriyama to draw the world map for us! (laughter)

Sakaguchi:
Then it will really be a Toriyama-style world. (laughter)

—Well, everything turned out great! (laughter) Thank you very much for joining us today.

Hironobu Sakaguchi Profile

Born in 1962 in Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture. Sakaguchi joined Square in 1982 and participated in development, starting with computer games. After the Famicom’ sKing’s Knight the Final Fantasy series became a big hit. Since then, he has continued to play an active role as producer.

Yuuji Horii Profile

Born in 1954 in Hyogo Prefecture. After having a hand in Free Writer, Horii was influenced by the Enix Game Contest which sparked his career. He was in charge of scenarios in the smash-hit Dragon Quest series, and has also worked on the Itadaki Street games.

Kazuhiko Aoki:
Mr. Toriyama designed the characters, monsters, and the look of each era.
Mr. Horii did the scenarios, and Mr. Sakaguchi was in charge of the entire system. Our desire to make a completely new RPG resulted in the creation of Chrono Trigger.

Announcer:
The meaning of Chrono Trigger is "time trigger."
This epic game was born from the collective dream of Akira Toriyama, Yuuji Horii, and Hironobu Sakaguchi.
Passing through a variety of eras from the past, present, and future, it is a story of a fight against monumental evil.
With its recurring themes of light and shadow, the game is partly characterized by the never-before-seen depth of its beautiful visuals.

Players can soar on the wings of time in the time machine designed by Mr. Toriyama.
Player and monster characters can attack while moving around during battle.
The magic effects are more impressive than in Final Fantasy VI.
The enemies are many and varied, ranging from small monsters to powerful giants!

Now to introduce the characters.
With a Japanese blade and a hint of the Orient, our protagonist, Chrono!
The bowgun-wielding Marle!
The spin-kicking, club-carrying, fist-fighting Ayla!
The skilled swordsman, Frog!
Our hero's advisor, the talented inventor, Lucca!
The strong and dependable battler, Robo!

And now, Mr. Sakaguchi, Mr. Horii, and Mr. Aoki take the stage! Let's listen as these three spill the secrets behind the creation of Chrono Trigger!

Hironobu Sakaguchi:
Around two years ago we traveled to America to do some research, checking out the latest in computer graphics.
I ended up travelling together with Mr. Horii and Mr. Toriyama.
During the trip we decided that we wanted to create something together, something that no one had done before.
We were really naive...

Yuuji Horii:
We got all fired up about it.
Normally you'd think things would have ended there, that we wouldn't have been so excited...

(laughing)

Hironobu Sakaguchi:
That's right, we were really enthusiastic about it.
Just talking about it was really exciting.
However, once we decided we were going to do it for sure, we spent a year or a year and a half thinking about all the difficulties we'd encounter.
We had almost given up when we received word from the producer, Mr. Aoki.
He said "No, if you're going to talk like that, please ask me. I definitely want to help make it happen."
Was it difficult, Mr. Aoki?

Kazuhiro Aoki:
My life was made considerably more difficult thanks to this project.

Hironobu Sakaguchi:
We were staying together too.

Kazuhiro Aoki:
That's right, one year ago, wasn't it?
Packed like sardines...
It was hard.
We started thinking about what kind of game we should make...
This type, that type...

The details of the making of Toriyama’s character illustrations finally revealed. Let’s turn back the clock a bit and take a look at how the characters were born and how they evolved.

Chrono – The Protagonist That Retained His Innocence:
His hairstyle, clothing, the Japanese sword he wields… it seems that the protagonist Chrono’s image has been more or less set in stone since the beginning. Only his expression belies his youth here.

Lucca – The Wise & Lovely Inventor Girl Genius:
It seems that Lucca’s design has also been more or less set in stone since early development. The difference lies in her symbol-emblazoned headgear being a headband rather than than a cap.

Magus – The Leader of the Demon Tribe, Shrouded in Sorrow:
His cold gaze and long hair remain the same. Only the helmut and armor he was equipped with in early development are different from the final game. His pose is different as well. Kind of cool, isn’t it?

Marle – A Miniskirt Suited Her!:
Her ponytail and bow gun are the same, but it seems that at first she wore a skirt. Her appearance is somewhat Robin Hood-esque.

Robo – He Was Truly a Machine:
His image changed so much that practically nothing of his prototype was retained. He was designed as a machine. He gradually became a little more human-esque, however.

Ayla – Her Beauty Was More Prominent Than Her Strength:
Ayla has changed quite a bit. Instead of the curly hair she sports today, her hair was once straight and long. In addition, she isn’t wearing her customary fur bikini. Her appearance looks quite neat and tidy.

Frog – A Fiery Spirit Lies Hidden Within his Atypical Form:
Is Frog really a frog? It seems that his image hasn’t changed very much since the beginning. His pose brings to mind a knight, however.

Finally, all the masterpieces complete! Ahaha!

Toriyama: Just kidding, everyone worked hard. Robo and Ayla were the characters that changed the most.

Caption: A mysterious cut character, the “Old Man”. What a waste, not to use him. He’s got a certain charm.

In the distant past, in the era when human beings were young and had only just been born from the earth—Destruction was being brought about by a terrible illness, nesting deep inside the planet.

The center of the illness, incubating and growing for many long years, until that time in the future when it will consume and destroy the planet. Bursting from the surface of the planet, forcing into extinction the many life forms the planet had given birth to. This simultaneously brought about the end of the planet's life as well.

On this day of destruction, at that very instant, the planet had a dream. Reliving and remembering all of the history of all the life upon the planet's surface, spinning before its eyes.

Turning back the pages of countless eras, dreaming and reliving.

In order to preserve its life, searching its memories for a way to escape from the fate of death. The method of escape may not be found, but it is eagerly sought after.

In an unconscious struggle with the irrational death of all life.

Within this dream, there were those that answered. In an era 999 years before the determined day of ruination, lived 3 youths. By coincidence, discovering the means to cross through time, they knew the fate of this world wrapped in despair, and were determined.

Even though a distant future with little connection to themselves, they were determined to save it from destruction. Traveling through time and changing history, and concentrating the strength of those living upon the planet, they seek to remove the disease threatening the life of the planet.

Thus, traveling back and forth between the five eras connected by the planet's dream, Crono and companions embark on their great adventure.

A Guidebook to Ultimania 1
Dialog Options (literally “Let’s enjoy the changing of lines,” in the Japanese)

CHAPTER 2
Game System
Before setting out on your journey
Map movement
Menu
Parameters
Battle basics
Attack basics
Techs and Double/Triple Techs (literally “skills and combination skills” in the Japanese)
Tech list (literally “skill list”)
Status Effects
Affinities/Attributes? (I forget what this is called in the English version. It refers to the elemental alignment of a character, for example Lucca is fire and Frog is water.)

A Guidebook to Ultimania 2
Battle Technique Course

CHAPTER 3
Main Scenarios
View of the main scenario’s chapters
1 Departure! Dreaming 1,000-Year-Festival
2 The Prodigal Queen
3 The Vanished Princess
4 I’m home!
5 Kingdom Trial
6 Beyond the Ruins…
7 The Mysterious Country’s Factory Ruins
8 The Brink of Time
9 The People of Demon Village
10 The Appearance of the Legendary Hero
11 Tata and Frog
12 Red Stone, Rare Stone
13 Footprints! Chase!
14 Fight, Grand Leon!
15 The Decisive Battle! Magus’ Castle!!
16 Waking up in the Primitive Age
17 Earth’s Laws
18 Magic Kingdom Zeal
19 Release the seal, summon the storm.
20 The Wise Men of the Mountain of Grief
21 What Waits in the Heavens
22 Lavos’ Call
23 The New Ancient Emperor
24 The Time Egg
25 To the Fated Time
26 At the End of the Planet’s Dream

A Guidebook to Ultimania 6
Recommendations for Completing your Compendium (This references the extras that track and display the enemies in the game, may also include the same features as they apply to items, techs, etc…)

Created with a monospaced font (to keep charts and the like in line), so please use one while you read for best results.

This guide was written without using an official game script and, as a result, likely contains a few translations--especially in the screenshots of dialogue and enemy names--that don't precisely match the game's text. Please compare it to a game script if you'd like to see the official translations of any in-game text.*

Sections are loosely arranged in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom reading order. <> tags indicate commentary or additional guidance on what each section refers to on the original page.*

§ indicates a technique name has been (at least to some degree) phonetically transcribed here: such techniques usually have names with no particular meaning, chosen only to evoke the idea behind them (e.g. the idea of "ice" for 'Icega'). In these instances, I've included Mr. Woolsey's names as a default reference.*

_____

<PG.22>

Crono
_____

<RED HEADER TEXT>
'His crimson hair is a symbol for his blazing courage'

<MAIN PROFILE TEXT>
A boy who lives in Guardia Kingdom's Truce Village with his mother, Gina, in the peaceful era of 1000 A.D. He looks like any other ordinary boy; but in fact, he holds the power to cut through difficult paths with his unbreakable will in the face of all adversity. Sleeping within him is the essence of [Heaven] magic, which controls lightning, and he also belies a natural genius in swordsmanship with katanas. He serves as the leader on the great adventure through time and space, and his characteristic courage is his greatest weapon as he travels through various ages to save the planet's future.

<TECHNIQUE CHART ROWS>
<Techniques are listed in NAME: DESCRIPTION format, roughly as they appear on the chart.>
_____
Spinning Cut: Deals damage in a circular area around the target
Cutting Wind: Deals Heaven-type damage to all enemies on a line between himself and the target <The original name for this technique, 'Kamaitachi', refers to both cuts inflicted by whirlwinds and a mythological pack of weasels supposedly responsible for causing these cuts on people's legs. See http://www.monstropedia.org/index.php?title=Kamaitachi or other sources for further information.>
☆Thunder: Deals Heaven-type damage to a single enemy
Full-Power Cut: Deals damage to one enemy
☆Thundaga: Deals Heaven-type damage to all enemies
☆Raise: Removes incapacitated status and restores HP to a single ally
Confusion Cut: Deals damage in four hits to one enemy
☆Shining: Deals Heaven-type damage to all enemies

Spinning Aura: Restores HP to all allies
Ice Sword: Deals Water-type damage to one enemy
Icega Sword: Deals Water-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around the target <§ "Ice Sword 2">
Flame Wheel: Deals Fire-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around the target
Fire Sword: Deals Fire-type damage to a single enemy
Figa Sword: Deals Fire-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around the target <§ "Fire Sword 2">
High-Speed Spin: Deals Dark-type damage to all enemies
Great Spinning Cut: Deals damage to any enemies in a circular area around Robo
Super Elec: Deals Heaven-type damage to all enemies
X Cut: Deals damage to a single enemy
Sword Waterfall: Deals Water-type damage to a single enemy
Lightning Rod: Deals Heaven-type damage to a single enemy
Drill Kick: Deals damage to a single enemy
Lightning Bite: Deals Heaven-type damage to a single enemy
Falcon Cut: Deals damage to any enemies on a horizontal line encompassing the target

Mix Delta: Deals Dark-type damage to all enemies
Keep Araise: Puts all allies into Reraise status <§ "Life Line">
Arc Impulse: Deals Water-type damage to a single enemy
Final Kick: Deals Dark-type damage to a single enemy
Figa Circle: Deals Fire-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around Robo <§ "Fire Zone">
Delta Storm: Deals Dark-type damage to all enemies
Gatling Kick: Deals Dark-type damage to a single enemy
Triple Attack: Deals damage to a single enemy
Big Tornado: Deals Dark-type damage to all enemies
3-Dimensional Attack: Deals damage to a single enemy

_____

<FEATURE BOX W/SCREENSHOT; BOTTOM OF PAGE>
<TITLE TAGS; NEXT TO IMAGE OF A GEAR>
HOW TO FIGHT WITH CHRONO

<RED TEXT>
He becomes a pivot for the party's attacks

<MAIN TEXT>
As his strength increases and the weapons he can equip get stronger, his attack power becomes top class among the party. Basically, using [Fight] and physical attack techniques is sufficient. Also, although his magic power is low, [☆Shining], the last technique he learns, is his most powerful solo magic attack, capable of dealing plenty of damage. Use items to recover HP and protect allies or entrust those duties to other party members.

Created with a monospaced font (to keep charts and the like in line), so please use one while you read for best results.

This guide was written without using an official game script and, as a result, likely contains a few translations--especially in the screenshots of dialogue and enemy names--that don't precisely match the game's text. Please compare it to a game script if you'd like to see the official translations of any in-game text.*

Sections are loosely arranged in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom reading order. <> tags indicate commentary or additional guidance on what each section refers to on the original page.*

§ indicates a technique name has been (at least to some degree) phonetically transcribed: such techniques usually have names with no particular meaning, chosen only to evoke the idea behind them (e.g. the idea of "ice" for 'Icega'). In these instances, I've included the Woolsey text's names.*

__________

<PG.24>

Marl

_____

<RED HEADER TEXT>
'A kind-hearted princess who knows no fear'

<MAIN PROFILE TEXT>
An affable girl who quickly became a close friend to Crono after their chance encounter at Guardia Kingdom's Millenial Festival. By birth she is Princess Marludia, the only daughter of the reigning King Guardia XXXIII. Having a highly curious personality, she sneaks out of the castle on her own in the guise of a normal girl in order to enjoy the festival at Leene Square. Her old pendant, which she treasures dearly, opens a gate to the past that sucks her in and draws back the curtains on Crono and his friends' adventure.

<TECHNIQUE CHART ROWS>
<Techniques are listed in NAME: DESCRIPTION format, roughly as they appear on the chart.>
_____
Aura: Restores HP to a single ally
Provocation: Inflicts Confused status on a single enemy
☆Ice: Deals Water-type damage to a single enemy
☆Care: Restores HP to a single ally
☆Haste: Puts a single ally into Haste status
☆Icega: Deals Water-type damage to all enemies <§ "Ice 2">
☆Carega: Restores HP to a single ally <§ "Cure 2">
☆Araise: Removes incapacitated status and restores all HP to a single ally <§ "Life 2">

Spinning Aura: Restores HP to all allies
Ice Sword: Deals Water-type damage to one enemy
Icega Sword: Deals Water-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around the target <§ "Ice Sword 2">
Reaction Bomb: Deals Dark-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around the target
Reaction Bomb 2: Deals Dark-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around the target
Reaction Bomb 3: Deals Dark-type damage to all enemies
Aura Beam: Restores HP to all allies
Ice Tackle: Deals Water-type damage to a single enemy
Carega Wind: Restores HP to all allies <§ "Cure Touch">
Ice Water: Deals Water-type damage to all enemies
Glacier: Deals Water-type damage to a single enemy
Double Carega: Restores all HP to all allies and removes status changes <§ "Double Cure">
Double Seductive Trick: Receive an item from a single enemy
Ice Throw: Deals Water-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around the target
Glacier Throw: Deals Water-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around the target

Mix Delta: Deals Dark-type damage to all enemies
Keep Araise: Puts all allies into Reraise status <§ "Life Line">
Arc Impulse: Deals Water-type damage to a single enemy
Final Kick: Deals Dark-type damage to a single enemy
Dark Eternal: Deals Dark-type damage to all enemies
Poyozou Dance: Deals damage to all enemies and inflicts Confused status
Grand Dream: Deals damage to all enemies <"Grandream", all as one word, is also a somewhat clever possible spelling; this is similar to Geno Dome's original pronunciation of "Genocidome".>
_____

<FEATURE BOX W/SCREENSHOT; BOTTOM OF PAGE>
<TITLE TAGS; NEXT TO IMAGE OF A GEAR>
HOW TO FIGHT WITH MARL

<RED TEXT>
Her recovery and support is more important than her attack

<MAIN TEXT>
Her attack power doesn't grow much, and her solo techniques max out in power at [☆Icega]. When you attack with her, you should use cooperative techniques as much as possible. On the other hand, her recovery techniques come in plenty of varieties so use her primarily for recovery. Also, her extraordinarily convenient [☆Haste] ability causes the ATB bar to fill twice as fast as normal. After you learn this technique, it's a good idea to support your allies by using it at the beginning of battles against strong enemies.

Created with a monospaced font (to keep charts and the like in line), so please use one while you read for best results.

This guide was written without using an official game script and, as a result, likely contains a few translations--especially in the screenshots of dialogue and enemy names--that don't precisely match the game's text. Please compare it to a game script if you'd like to see the official translations of any in-game text.*

Sections are loosely arranged in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom reading order. <> tags indicate commentary or additional guidance on what each section refers to on the original page.*

§ indicates a technique name has been (at least to some degree) phonetically transcribed: such techniques usually have names with no particular meaning, chosen only to evoke the idea behind them (e.g. the idea of "ice" for 'Icega'). In these instances, I've included the Woolsey text's names.*

__________

<PG.26>

Lucca
_____
<RED HEADER TEXT>
'An inventor girl who is attuned to the power of science via her natural insights'

<MAIN PROFILE TEXT>
Crono's older childhood friend, a girl who wears glasses that suit her well. Thanks to the influence of her father, Taban, who runs a blacksmith shop in Truce Village, she has been connected to the study of science since she was very young. She has since become a genius inventor of all kinds of machines. Taban calls her his "brilliant and lovely" daughter, but she also causes her share of trouble whenever she gets carried away. She debuts her great invention, the Super Dimensional Material Transfer Machine Telepods, at the Millenial Festival; when they cause a distortion in space-time that flings Marl into a different era, Lucca creates the Gate Holder--a device that uses the principles behind her telepods to stabilize space-time distortions--in order to rescue the girl.

<TECHNIQUE CHART ROWS>
<Techniques are listed in NAME: DESCRIPTION format, roughly as they appear on the chart.>
_____
Flamethrower: Deals Fire-type damage to all enemies on a line between herself and the target
Hypnotic Sound Waves: Inflicts Sleep status on all enemies
☆Fire: Deals Fire-type damage to one enemy
Napalm Bomb: Deals Fire-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around the target
☆Protect: Puts one ally into Protect status
☆Figa: Deals Fire-type damage to all enemies <§ "Fire 2">
Megaton Bomb: Deals Fire-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around the target
☆Flare: Deals Fire-type damage to all enemies

Flame Wheel: Deals Fire-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around the target
Fire Sword: Deals Fire-type damage to a single enemy
Figa Sword: Deals Fire-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around the target <§ "Fire Sword 2">
Reaction Bomb: Deals Dark-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around the target
Reaction Bomb 2: Deals Dark-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around the target
Reaction Bomb 3: Deals Dark-type damage to all enemies
Fire Punch: Deals Fire-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around the target
Figa Tackle: Deals Fire-type damage to a single enemy <§ "Fire Tackle">
Double Bomb: Deals Fire-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around Robo
Flame Kick: Deals Fire-type damage to a single enemy
Flame Tornado: Deals Fire-type damage to all enemies
Flame Triple Kick: Deals Fire-type damage to a single enemy
Red Needle: Deals Fire-type damage to a single enemy
Line Bomb: Deals Fire-type damage to any enemies on a horizontal line encompassing the target
Frog Flare: Deals Fire-type damage to all enemies

<FEATURE BOX W/SCREENSHOT; BOTTOM OF PAGE>
<TITLE TAGS; NEXT TO IMAGE OF A GEAR>
HOW TO FIGHT WITH LUCCA

<RED TEXT>
Dedicate her to using magic attacks while being cautious about elemental affinities

<MAIN TEXT>
Although, like Marl, Lucca's attack power is low, her offensive techniques are all powerful. Her maximum MP and magic power are high, so mainly rely on her magic attack techniques in battle. However, all of her damage-dealing solo techniques are Fire-type, and her cooperative attacks mostly deal Dark-type or Fire-type damage. You may want to switch her out of the party before you battle enemies that either absorb or nullify those elements' damage.

Created with a monospaced font (to keep charts and the like in line), so please use one while you read for best results.

This guide was written without using an official game script and, as a result, likely contains a few translations--especially in the screenshots of dialogue and enemy names--that don't precisely match the game's text. Please compare it to a game script if you'd like to see the official translations of any in-game text.*

Sections are loosely arranged in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom reading order. <> tags indicate commentary or additional guidance on what each section refers to on the original page.*

§ indicates a technique name has been (at least to some degree) phonetically transcribed: such techniques usually have names with no particular meaning, chosen only to evoke the idea behind them (e.g. the idea of "ice" for 'Icega'). In these instances, I've included the Woolsey text's names.*

__________

<PG.28>

Robo
_____
<RED HEADER TEXT>
'A steel warrior who weaves hope into the dismal future in which he was born'

<MAIN PROFILE TEXT>
A completely humanoid robot, abandoned and broken down in the ruined world of the distant future 1300 years after Chrono and his friends' era. Thanks to Lucca's skill, Codename R-66Y was repaired, awakened from his long sleep, and received a different name from Chrono. Other robots of the same model have attack programs installed in order to eliminate any human intruders in the production facility, but Robo, perhaps from Lucca's reprogramming of his thought circuitry, is especially friendly to humans. He travels with Chrono and friends to ensure that his first independent volition--to see the end of the journey to save the planet--is achieved.

<TECHNIQUE CHART ROWS>
<Techniques are listed in NAME: DESCRIPTION format, roughly as they appear on the chart.>
_____
Rocket Punch: Deals damage to a single enemy
Care Beam: Restores HP to all allies
Spinning Laser: Deals Dark-type damage to all enemies
Robo Tackle: Deals damage to one enemy
Heal Beam: Restores HP to all allies
Machinegun Punch: Deals damage to a single enemy
Circle Bomb: Deals Fire-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around himself
Elec Attack: Deals Heaven-type damage to all enemies

High-Speed Spin: Deals Dark-type damage to all enemies
Great Spinning Cut: Deals damage to any enemies in a circular area around Robo
Super Elec: Deals Heaven-type damage to all enemies
Aura Beam: Restores HP to all allies
Ice Tackle: Deals Water-type damage to a single enemy
Carega Wind: Restores HP to all allies <§ "Cure Touch">
Fire Punch: Deals Fire-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around the target
Figa Tackle: Deals Fire-type damage to a single enemy <§ "Fire Tackle">
Double Bomb: Deals Fire-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around Robo
Toss Sword: Deals damage to any enemies on a line between Robo and the target
Bubble Press: Deals damage to a single enemy
Carega Wave: Restores HP to all allies <§ "Cure Wave">
Stage: Inflicts Stop status on all enemies <§ "Boogie" | The original name, "otachidai" does mean "stage" (like you'd find at a dance club), and it is this definition that is most likely here. Another prominent meaning the word carries is any "balcony of appearances" where officials and other highly-ranked individuals, including the Imperial Family of Japan, sometimes address or greet people during special events.>
Great Spinning Kick: Deals damage to a single enemy
Hell Throw: Deals damage to a single enemy

Keep Araise: Puts all allies into Reraise status <§ "Life Line">
Figa Circle: Deals Fire-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around Robo <§ "Fire Zone">
Triple Attack: Deals damage to a single enemy
Big Tornado: Deals Dark-type damage to all enemies
Omega Flare: Deals Dark-type damage to all enemies
Strike Spin: Deals damage to a single enemy
Grand Dream: Deals damage to all enemies <"Grandream", all as one word, is also a somewhat clever possible spelling; this is similar to Geno Dome's original pronunciation of "Genocidome".>
_____

<FEATURE BOX W/SCREENSHOT; BOTTOM OF PAGE>
<TITLE TAGS; NEXT TO IMAGE OF A GEAR>
HOW TO FIGHT WITH ROBO

<RED TEXT>
He is capable in both physical attacks and recovery

<MAIN TEXT>
While his maximum HP and stamina are high, his magic defense is poor. When enemy magic becomes more powerful close to the story's end, cover him with a magic defense-boosting Prism Helmet or Moonlight Armor. His techniques nicely balance physical and magical attacks, as well as recovery, but his magic power is low, so don't hope for too much out of his magical attacks. It's practical to use him primarily for physical attacks and, in a pinch, to recover.

<SCREENSHOT TEXT & DESCRIPTION TEXT>
Deibu Chrono
Robo
Maoh

←With high strength, his physical attacks are powerful. Still, his maximum MP is low, so refrain from abusing techniques.

Created with a monospaced font (to keep charts and the like in line), so please use one while you read for best results.

This guide was written without using an official game script and, as a result, likely contains a few translations--especially in the screenshots of dialogue and enemy names--that don't precisely match the game's text. Please compare it to a game script if you'd like to see the official translations of any in-game text.*

Sections are loosely arranged in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom reading order. <> tags indicate commentary or additional guidance on what each section refers to on the original page.*

§ indicates a technique name has been (at least to some degree) phonetically transcribed: such techniques usually have names with no particular meaning, chosen only to evoke the idea behind them (e.g. the idea of "ice" for 'Icega'). In these instances, I've included the Woolsey text's names.*

__________

<PG.30>

Kaeru

<RED HEADER TEXT>
'A grotesque swordsman who follows the way of the knight'

<MAIN PROFILE TEXT>
A swordsman in the form of a frog who lives in the Middle Ages kingdom of Guardia, 600 A.D. He was a young human working in the service of the kingdom until ten years ago when he was defeated in battle by the king of the Magic Tribe, who used a powerful magic curse that has completely changed the young man's appearance into that of a frog. While keeping his past concealed, he has remained true to his vows to King Guardia XXI and Queen Leene, fighting in isolation to protect the kingdom from the clutches of the Magic Tribe. His encounter with Chrono's party while rescuing Queen Leene, who was captured by the Magic Tribe, brings cheer to Kaeru's nearly broken spirit, and he resolves to take up the battle his deceased friend left unfinished.

<TECHNIQUE CHART ROWS>
<Techniques are listed in NAME: DESCRIPTION format, roughly as they appear on the chart.>
_____
Lick: Restores HP to a single ally
Lick Cut: Deals damage to a single enemy
☆Water: Deals Water-type damage to a single enemy
☆Heal: Restores HP to all allies
Jump Cut: Deals damage to one enemy
☆Wataga: Deals Water-type damage to all enemies <§ "Water 2">
☆Carega: Restores HP to a single ally <§ "Cure 2">
Frog Drop: Deals damage to all enemies

X Cut: Deals damage to a single enemy
Sword Waterfall: Deals Water-type damage to a single enemy
Lightning Rod: Deals Heaven-type damage to a single enemy
Ice Water: Deals Water-type damage to all enemies
Glacier: Deals Water-type damage to a single enemy
Double Carega: Restores all HP to all allies and removes status changes <§ "Double Cure">
Toss Sword: Deals damage to any enemies on a line between Robo and the target
Bubble Press: Deals damage to a single enemy
Carega Wave: Restores HP to all allies <§ "Cure Wave">
Lick Kiss: Restores HP to all allies and removes status changes
Bubble Tackle: Deals damage to a single enemy
Cross-legged Falling Cut: Deals damage to a single enemy
Red Needle: Deals Fire-type damage to a single enemy
Line Bomb: Deals Fire-type damage to any enemies on a horizontal line encompassing the target
Frog Flare: Deals Fire-type damage to all enemies

Arc Impulse: Deals Water-type damage to a single enemy
Delta Storm: Deals Dark-type damage to all enemies
Triple Attack: Deals damage to a single enemy
3-Dimensional Attack: Deals damage to a single enemy
Strike Spin: Deals damage to a single enemy
Grand Dream: Deals damage to all enemies <"Grandream", all as one word, is also a somewhat clever possible spelling; this is similar to Geno Dome's original pronunciation of "Genocidome".>
_____

<FEATURE BOX W/SCREENSHOT; BOTTOM OF PAGE>
<TITLE TAGS; NEXT TO IMAGE OF A GEAR>
HOW TO FIGHT WITH KAERU

<RED TEXT>
He demonstrates his true value in cooperative techniques with comrades

<MAIN TEXT>
His parameters are all average, though his physical attacks are slightly better than his magical attacks. This is especially true when you equip him with both the Grandleon and the Hero's Badge, which reliably increases his critical hit rate using the [Fight] command. Whenever you do opt for techniques, you may want to try his more useful cooperative techniques instead of his mostly low-power solo techniques.

Created with a monospaced font (to keep charts and the like in line), so please use one while you read for best results.

This guide was written without using an official game script and, as a result, likely contains a few translations--especially in the screenshots of dialogue and enemy names--that don't precisely match the game's text. Please compare it to a game script if you'd like to see the official translations of any in-game text.*

Sections are loosely arranged in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom reading order. <> tags indicate commentary or additional guidance on what each section refers to on the original page.*

§ indicates a technique name has been (at least to some degree) phonetically transcribed: such techniques usually have names with no particular meaning, chosen only to evoke the idea behind them (e.g. the idea of "ice" for 'Icega'). In these instances, I've included the Woolsey text's names.*

<MAIN PROFILE TEXT>
A primitive woman whose physical abilities, far exceeding those of present-day humans, ruled as the chief of a human settlement, the Ioka Village, 65,000,000 years ago. There humanity fought in a confrontation with the Dinosaur People, a race that evolved from dinosaurs, over control of the land. Eira continues to fight in this battle according to the law of the land--survival of the strongest. She has a fondness for strong people and possesses a big-hearted personality that reveals her unconditional affection toward those she cares for. She also holds a strong sense of ethics, willingly risking her own life to atone for the mistakes of people she thinks highly of.

<TECHNIQUE CHART ROWS>
<Techniques are listed in NAME: DESCRIPTION format, roughly as they appear on the chart.>
_____
Kiss: Restores HP to a single ally and removes status changes
Roly Kick: Deals damage to a single enemy <§ "Rollo Kick" | The name is based on the in-game enemy monster called Roly.>
Scratch and Bite: Deals damage to a single enemy
Rock Throw: Deals damage to a single enemy
Seductive Trick: Receive an item from a single enemy <§ "Charm" | The Venus flytrap is sometimes referred to by the original name for the technique, "irojikake", but both the nature of the attack and it's description are evidence that the given meaning is likelier.>
Tail Whirlwind: Deals damage in a circular area around herself
Dinosaur: Deals damage to all enemies
Triple Kick: Deals damage in three hits to a single enemy

Drill Kick: Deals damage to a single enemy
Lightning Bite: Deals Heaven-type damage to a single enemy
Falcon Cut: Deals damage to any enemies on a horizontal line encompassing the target
Double Seductive Trick: Receive an item from a single enemy
Ice Throw: Deals Water-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around the target
Glacier Throw: Deals Water-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around the target
Flame Kick: Deals Fire-type damage to a single enemy
Flame Tornado: Deals Fire-type damage to all enemies
Flame Triple Kick: Deals Fire-type damage to a single enemy
Stage: Inflicts Stop status on all enemies <§ "Boogie" | The original name, "otachidai" does mean "stage" (like you'd find at a dance club), and it is this definition that is most likely here. Another prominent meaning the word carries is any "balcony of appearances" where officials and other highly-ranked individuals, including the Imperial Family of Japan, sometimes address or greet people during special events.>
Great Spinning Kick: Deals damage to a single enemy
Hell Throw: Deals damage to a single enemy
Lick Kiss: Restores HP to all allies and removes status changes
Bubble Tackle: Deals damage to a single enemy
Cross-legged Falling Cut: Deals damage to a single enemy

Final Kick: Deals Dark-type damage to a single enemy
Gatling Kick: Deals Dark-type damage to a single enemy
Big Tornado: Deals Dark-type damage to all enemies
3-Dimensional Attack: Deals damage to a single enemy
Strike Spin: Deals damage to a single enemy
Poyozou Dance: Deals damage to all enemies and inflicts Confused status
_____

<FEATURE BOX W/SCREENSHOT; BOTTOM OF PAGE>
<TITLE TAGS; NEXT TO IMAGE OF A GEAR>
HOW TO FIGHT WITH EIRA

<RED TEXT>
Fight with her various moves and powerful attacks

<MAIN TEXT>
Her speed is extraordinarily high, so she can act frequently in a short time. Thanks to her high strength, even a single attack from her is more than ample, so you should be able to use her as your party's main source of offensive power. She also specializes in fighting using her own fists, without equipping any weapons. As she levels up, the critical hit rate of her fist increases, and it gains the ability to inflict status effects; above level 72, it takes on new names and special effects (->P.421).

<SCREENSHOT TEXT & DESCRIPTION TEXT>
Got a Red Plate

Rust Tyrano Chrono
Eira
Marl

←[Seductive Trick] allows you to receive items from enemies, so if you learn it at an early stage, it will come in handy.

Created with a monospaced font (to keep charts and the like in line), so please use one while you read for best results.

This guide was written without using an official game script and, as a result, likely contains a few translations--especially in the screenshots of dialogue and enemy names--that don't precisely match the game's text. Please compare it to a game script if you'd like to see the official translations of any in-game text.*

Sections are loosely arranged in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom reading order. <> tags indicate commentary or additional guidance on what each section refers to on the original page.*

§ indicates a technique name has been (at least to some degree) phonetically transcribed: such techniques usually have names with no particular meaning, chosen only to evoke the idea behind them (e.g. the idea of "ice" for 'Icega'). In these instances, I've included the Woolsey text's names.*

<MAIN PROFILE TEXT>
The supreme commander of the Magic Tribe who, upon his arrival in the Middle Ages, took command of their army of powerful magical monsters in a bid for global conquest. Although his form is that of a human, he possesses overwhelming magical power, able to control all four types of magic, including [Dark] magic. To Kaeru, Maoh is both the slayer of his close friend, Cyrus, and the one responsible for placing the transformation curse on Kaeru. According to remaining legends passed down in the Magic Tribe of the Present, he supposedly attempted a ritual to create a dreadful monster that would bring humans to their ruin--but who knows what hidden motives he might have had?

<TECHNIQUE CHART ROWS>
<Techniques are listed in NAME: DESCRIPTION format, roughly as they appear on the chart.>
_____
☆Thundaga: Deals Heaven-type damage to all enemies
☆Icega: Deals Water-type damage to all enemies <§ "Ice 2">
☆Figa: Deals Fire-type damage to all enemies <§ "Fire 2">
☆Dark Bomb: Deals Dark-type damage to any enemies in a circular area around the target
☆Magic Barrier: Puts a single ally into Barrier status.
☆Dark Mist: Deals Dark-type damage to all enemies
☆Black Hole: Causes instant death to any enemies in a circular area around himself
☆Dark Matter: Deals Dark-type damage to all enemies

←His versions of the magics that Chrono, Marl and Lucca can use, all of which have names like [☆Thundaga], are much more potent than theirs.

<SCREENSHOT 2 TEXT & DESCRIPTION TEXT>

Terra Mutant Maoh
Robo
Lucca

→Special items are necessary in order to use the cooperative techniques [Dark Eternal] and [Omega Flare].

<FEATURE BOX W/SCREENSHOT; BOTTOM OF PAGE>
<TITLE TAGS; NEXT TO IMAGE OF A GEAR>
HOW TO FIGHT WITH MAOH

<RED TEXT>
Use him for magical attacks from all four elemental affinities

<MAIN TEXT>
All of his parameters are above average, but his maximum MP, hit, magic power, and magic defense are higher than any other character's. Furthermore, not only can he learn magic attacks in all four elements of magic, Heaven, Dark, Fire, and Water, but all of these attacks are also high-powered. These qualities make him a highly capable independent fighter, but he has almost no cooperative techniques available, so make sure you form parties from remaining members who can still perform any necessary cooperative techniques.

<SCREENSHOT TEXT & DESCRIPTION TEXT>

Lalacargo Chrono
Maoh
Kaeru

←His strength and weapons' attack power are decent, so he can even hold his own against Crono and others using the [Fight] command.

Created with a monospaced font (to keep charts and the like in line), so please use one while you read for best results.

This guide was written without using an official game script and, as a result, likely contains a few translations of dialogue that don't precisely match the game's text. Please compare it to a game script if you'd like to see the official translations of any in-game text.*

Sections are loosely arranged in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom reading order. <> tags indicate commentary or additional guidance on what each section refers to on the original page.*

_____

<BLUE BAR; TOP OF THE PAGE>
[Episode 1]

<WHITE HEADER TEXT>
Darkness of Time

_____

Time's Eclipse

<HEADER; MAIN TEXT>
The bucket sitting at the End of Time that is connected to the Day of Lavos——it also seems to connect to another dimension. Chrono and his allies leap through the bucket to ascertain the true form of the dreadful Lavos-like presence that has emerged there.

<SCREENSHOT>
MAOH: Up ahead, a new enemy is being born. It's spreading outward just ahead, in the depths of the Darkness of Time.

<WHITE BOX BELOW SCREENSHOT>
PARTY

Chrono Marl Lucca Robo Kaeru Eira Maoh

<BLACK BAR>
[Route of Journey]

<SCREENSHOT; TITLE BAR>
∞ The End of Time

<SCREENSHOT BELOW FIRST SHOT (PARTY TALKING WITH HASH/GASPAR)>
From a different, faraway dimension... well on the other side of the Darkness of Time... it seems like a great power is flowing through.

<BLUE BAR NEXT TO MAOH/MAGUS' SPRITE>
[Maoh]

<GRAY BAR>
[A world where an even greater threat sleeps]

<MAIN TEXT>
In traveling through space and time to defeat Lavos, who falls on the planet in ancient times and brings the future to ruin, we change the history that the planet should otherwise follow. In other words, all that we are attempting to do amounts to nothing more than seizing a single possibility from many through our actions.
If that is so, then do the other histories we do not choose simply fade into nothing? Of course not. Countless and endlessly branching apart are "possible" worlds, worlds that slide off our own dimension and overlap each other, continuing to exist in separate spacetimes. Perhaps there are worlds where were unable to stop Lavos... or worlds where we are trampled underfoot by much more troublesome magical monsters*.
At any rate, I expect to keep fighting and resisting. Whatever cruel fate may come, I must...!

<*In the above the word "mamono" is used where I have "magical monsters". It seems to indicate the Magic Tribe's/Mystics' "army of monsters" rather than the people themselves. However, the fortunes of the Magic Tribe ARE tied to their rise in power during the war, so you might say it really is the Magic Tribe as a whole that tramples humans in the alternate world Maoh describes here.>

<BLACK BAR>
Advancement Chart

<BLUE BAR>
∞ The End of Time

<GRAY BOX; TITLE BAR>
The End of Time (→P.169)

| 1 | Square
•Talk with the old man
•Check the bucket

<RED TEXT AND PARAGRAPH>
The Door to the Darkness of Time Opens

When you clear the dimensional distortions in all three eras and visit the End of Time, the old man will call out to you. After speaking with him and then checking the bucket, you can choose to move to the Day of Lavos or to the Darkness of Time.

<GRAY BAR; BLUE ARROW POINTS TO IT>
See next page

409

作者---{流れ落ちる}

Created with a monospaced font (to keep charts and the like in line), so please use one while you read for best results.

This guide was written without using an official game script and, as a result, likely contains a few translations of dialogue that don't precisely match the game's text. Please compare it to a game script if you'd like to see the official translations of any in-game text.*

Sections are loosely arranged in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom reading order. <> tags indicate commentary or additional guidance on what each section refers to on the original page.*

_____

<GRAY BOX; BLUE ARROW POINTS TO IT>
Continued from previous page

<GRAY BOX; BELOW BLUE "???" BAR>
The Darkness of Time (→P.409)

| 2 | The Central Area
•Approach the character standing around there
•Check the gate

<RED TEXT W/PARAGRAPH>
Follow the Mystery Character Beyond the Darkness of Time

As soon as you visit the Darkness of Time, you can see a certain character from behind. If you approach him, he'll enter the gate deeper inside, so chase after him. However, when you do so you'll break into a battle with the Dream Devourer, so you'll want to make sure your equipment is in order before you enter the gate. When you overcome the Dream Devourer, you'll be able to see Ending 13, [The Dream's Epilogue] (→P.561).

<SCREENSHOT AND SIDE TEXT>
Return to the End of Time?
☞Yes
No

←Even after the mysterious character enters the gate, Chrono and his friends can withdraw to the End of Time. If you feel like you haven't prepared enough, then come back later.

Created with a monospaced font (to keep charts and the like in line), so please use one while you read for best results.*

This guide was written without using an official game script and, as a result, likely contains a few translations of dialogue that don't precisely match the game's text. Please compare it to a game script if you'd like to see the official translations of any in-game text.*

Sections are loosely arranged in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom reading order. <> tags indicate commentary or additional guidance on what each section refers to on the original page.*

There is a handful of footnotes about difficult or peculiar translations appearing in this guide, each marked with a superscripted letter. See the end of the guide for explanations and possible (if unlikely) alternative interpretations.*

_____

<TOP BAR>
GUIDE TO ULTIMANIA

<RED BAR>
Eyes on...! The Quiz Master

In the dimensional distortion of the Future, a special map with a quiz related to content of the game will appear. We'll show you all 32 questions on it in one place, which may come in handy when you tackle this dimensional distortion.

<SCREENSHOT>
Correct. You knew that one easy, huh? Okay, head to the next room.

<BLACK BAR AND TEXT>
For the quiz each kidᵃ has eight types of questions apiece

When you talk to the children in the mysterious town (Question Rooms) which lies in the dimensional distortion (Future), you'll be given a four-question quiz there (→P.401). Each of the four kids has eight kinds of questions which are chosen and arranged randomly. All of the quiz's questions are displayed below. Furthermore, the order in which each choice is shown is predetermined, so they don't change in order.

<SCREENSHOT & DESCRIPTION TEXT>
What is Glen's real name?

←If you changed a party member's name or the name of the Sylbird, a question like this might come up...

<LEFT-HAND-COLUMN>
First person
Second Person
Third Person
Fourth Person

<Questions and answers are listed in QUESTION: ANSWERS format, roughly as they appear on the chart.>
Which of these is not a runner in the race at Leene Square?: •Iron-masked Runner •Sudden Death Dinaᵇ ★Royal Cat •Nonstop Soldierᶜ
Which is the correct description on the Dragon Tank's blueprints?: ★Head protects against Heaven-type and Fire-type attacks •Head protects against Water-type and Fire-type attacks •Head protects against Heaven-type and Water-type attacks •Head protects against Fire-type and Dark-type attacks
What do Grand and Leon say when they merge?: •Brotheeeer Fuuuusion •Fuuuusion ★Confuuusion •Chemical Fuuuusion
In the fight with Maoh, how many arms does the bronze statue in the background have?: •Two ★Four •Six •Eight
What is the red stone that you need to repair the Grandleon called?: •Power Stone ★Dreamstoneᵈ •Red Stone •Fire Stone
What is the name of the device Lucca created to stabilize space-time so that you can enter gates?: ★Gate Holder •Rainbow-colored Shell •Dreamstone •Pendant
In the Ioka Village, what do you get for trading a [Petal] and a [Fang]?: •Mammoth Sword ★Ruby Gun •Red Plate •Ancient Sword
Who is the chief of Medina Village in 1000 A.D.?: •Vinegar IV ★Vinegar VIII •Vinegar XII •Great Vinegar

What is Kaeru's real name?: •Cyrus •Tarta ★Glen •Edible Frogᵉ
Kaeru's technique, [Frog Drop], has the same effect as what other technique?: •Elec Attack •Flare •Dark Matter ★Dinosaur
What is Cyrus' technique?: ★Nirvana Slash •Meteo Final •Ultimate Slash •Shining Sword
What is the name of the dinosaur you ride to Tyran Castle?: •Azarla •Pteranix ★Pteran •Tyran Kite
In what era did Lavos first appear on this planet?: ★Prehistory •Ancient Times •Middle Ages •1999 A.D.
What is Maoh's real name?: •Fritz •Alphard •Marco ★Jacki
What is Maoh's older sister's name?: •Leene ★Sara •Ariche •Fiona
What was Maoh's childhood pet's name?: •Cro ★Alphard •Sweet •Mud-eater

What was the last invention of Gash, the Guru of Reason?: •Time Gate •Chrono Trigger ★Sylbird •Nu
Who is the Guru of Time?: •Bosch •Gasch ★Hasch •Mesch
Who tests your strength against them at the End of Time?: •Mamo ★Spekkio •Johnny •Gonzales
Who does Eira like best of all those living in Ioka Village?: •Don •Fritz •Taban ★Kino
Who is the lawyer who defended Chrono during the kingdom trial?: •King Guardia •Chancellor •Bosch ★Pierre
Who is your opponent in the bike race through the No. 32 ruins in the Future?: •Michael •Don ★Johnny •Marco
Who is the giant skeleton monster who attacks you on Zenan Bridge in the Middle Ages?: •Heckran ★Junkdragar •Vinegar •Melfikk
For whom does Mayone have feelings?: ★Maoh •Soyso •Vinegar •Chrono

What elemental attribute does Maoh's magic have?: •Heaven-type ★Dark-type •Fire-type •None
What is the name of the pink robot who wore a ribbon?: •Prometheus •Perseus ★Atropos •Artemis
What is the new name Dalton gave to the remodeled Sylbird?: •Dalton Blue Throne •King Dalton Throne ★Sky Dalton Throne •Dalton Fly Throne
What is the name of the humanoid robot in Leene Square?: ★Gonzales •Prometheus •Great Goro •Johnny
Which of these marks is shown when you're in [Confused] status?: •Eye ★Star •Clock •?
What is the name of the leader of the Dinosaur People?: •Alarza •Arzala •Azzala ★Azarla
To whom does the name Princess Marludia refer?: •Lucca •Eira •Mayone ★Marl
What is the title of this game?: ★CHRONO TRIGGER •CRONO TRIGGER •CRONO TPIGER •CURONO TRIGER

_____

<ᵃThough it's more common to interpret "kodomo" (as is written on the original page) as "child/kid" rather than "children/kids", the text describing the quiz proctors seems to indicate that the plural form is intended.>

<ᵇうっちゃる roughly means "to leave behind/abandon/discard"; the similar-sounding verb うちゃる means a come-from-behind victory throw in sumo where a wrestler getting pushed out of the ring twists his torso and throws his opponent out instead.>

<ᶜほいほい in the original name has a few meanings, one of which is something like "pampered". I opted for what I thought was the more likely meaning, "without thinking of the consequences/recklessly" or "without stopping".>

<ᵈ"Dreamstone" should, strictly speaking, be ドリームストーン, but is given in the original text as ドリストーン, which sounds more like "Dori Stone".>

<ᵉ"Shokuyougaeru" literally means "edible frog", which specifically refers to Pelophylax kl. esculentus; it is also the name of the enemy frogs called T'Pole in the original translation.>

Many unknown secrets are buried between the flow of thousands of years. Here, we present you with 30 stringently selected secrets, ranging from practical techniques to some rare phenomenon that will make you laugh.

01)

In the DS version of Chrono Trigger there are various features that weren’t its SNES or PS predecessors. Not only are there different menu layouts, but there are also some big changes as well. So, we have compiled a list of the features new to the DS version, especially the major, standout changes. Let’s take a look:

Arena of Ages (see page 530)

The Arena of Ages, where you raise and battle monsters, makes its debut. You can also battle against other players via Wi-Fi.

Caption: The battle system used in the Arena of Ages is completely different than the one found in the main game.

New Events and New Endings (see pages 344, 378, 408, 561)

Three new side quests have been added: G (Dragon Sanctuary), H (Dimensional Vortex) and I (Time’s Darkness). Upon clearing I (Time’s Darkness), you can view a new ending connecting the original game with its sequel, Chrono Cross (see page 581).

Caption: If you challenge yourself to unlock the additional ending, you can enjoy a new story.

Picture: In the photo Magus is saying, "From the depths of the Darkness of Time that stretches before us, a new enemy is trying to be born."

(NOTE: As usual, there a several ways even I can think of translate this line, so I am sure that others will devise other interpretations, as well. Literally, it is more like this: “Ahead, a new enemy is attempting to be born. Expanding from beyond this point, at the bottom of Time’s Darkness.” I would also point out that the word “new” is used in the English here, but the Japanese word actually implies more a “fresh” concept, implying some connection to a previous enemy who has changed in same way, likely referring to Lavos metamorphosing into the Dream/Time Devourer.)

New Items (see page 413)

There are 56 additional types of items that were not present in the SNES and PS versions of the game. You can obtain these items through the Arena of Ages and the added side quests.

New Monsters (see pages 513-527)

40 types of monsters have been added. They appear in the new side quests.

Controls Unique to the DS (see pages 45-60)

You can control most of the game using the touch screen. During battles, you can choose between two modes: an easy-to-use touch screen control setup (DS) and one that is similar to the SNES version (Classic) (see page 60-61).

Caption: Characters and monsters are no longer hidden behind battle gauges in the DS game mode.

Change to the Menu Setup (see page 48)

The entire design of the menus has changed. Along with that, the way in which you navigate the menus has also changed.

Caption: The menus have been changed so that you can easily navigate them with the touch screen.

Picture: The menu shows Crono’s equipment menu. He is equipped with a Swallow, Haste Helm, Nova Armor and Gold Earring. The player is currently examining the list of available swords.

Kanji for Item and Tech Names (see page 416-434)

The bulk of item and weapons that were written in hiragana in the SNES and PS versions now have their names displayed in kanji.

(NOTE: Obviously, this doesn’t really matter much to western audiences, but it does make the game easier to play in Japanese in my opinion. Once you learn the language, reading things in kanji is much faster and smoother than doing so with only kana. This also may reflect the games maturation, as it is now expected that older gamers, those who probably couldn’t read a great deal of kanji when the first played the game, are now going to be playing it anew.)

“Bonus” is now the “Gallery” (see page 564)

What was called the “Bonus” section in the PS version has been renamed “Gallery” in this version. Also, in the PS version entries increased according to the types of endings you achieved, but in the DS version entries increase as you encounter them throughout the core game.

(NOTE: I have never played the PS version, so this final point is a little difficult fore me. I am pretty sure it is saying that when you beat the PS version, it updates you “Bonus/Gallery” with the appropriate items, whereas in the DS version the game updates you spoils as you play. So if I get the Swallow in PS version, it won’t show up in my Bonus area until I get an ending with it in my inventory, in the PS version. Whereas, in the DS version, obviously the second you acquire the Swallow it is available for viewing in the Gallery area.)

Page 580

22 Initiation into the ways of speedy “Monster Extermination”

Mini-Game

You can clear the “Monster Extermination” mini-game in Leene Square’s Beckerah Experiment Hut without having to touch the blue light on the left side of the screen by use lightning fast timing to knock back the monsters in this order: middle, left, right, left, right, right. The trick is to press the D-Pad in a diagonal-up direction when moving your character. (See Page 117)

Picture Caption: Even if you start run a little bit behind, if you hit the left and right monster one more time each it is still possible to clear the game without touching the blue light.

23 Secrets of the Poyozo doll and the Doppleganger Doll Mini-Game

By clearing a mini-game at Leene Square’ Beckerah Experiment Hut you can get two types of dolls: a Poyozo and a Doppleganger. As shown in the chart below, the dolls will be sent to various locations depending on who is the head of your party. While on the topic, the result of examining the dolls will change as well, with the Poyozo playing a different tune until you exit to the world map and the Doppleganger assuming different random positions.

24 A Must See for Top Breeders – The Mechanism Behind the Fluctuation in the Number of Cats Mini-Game

You can first get a cat by winning at “Monster Extermination” at Leene Square’s Beckrah Experiment Hut, increasing the number of cats at Chrono’s house to two. From that point on, the number of cats in Chrono’s House will fluctuate depending on the amount of cat food you have (you win more by playing the same mini-game, see Page 117). The actual method for determining this is spelled out below. If the number of cats increases, the number of cats that appear when the Silver Bird remains undamaged (lit “ShiruBa-do,” perhaps a shortening of/pun of Silver and Bird) in ending 001 “To the Other Side of Time” will also increase accordingly.

Info Box: The Process of Fluctuation in the Number of Cats

Every time the party enters the fountain area of Leene Square, the amount of cat food decreases by 0-3 grams. If that exhausts your cat food supply there is an approximately 4-35% chance that you will lose a cat (the greater the number of cats, the greater chance one will disappear). Provided you still have some cat food, the probability that you will gain a cat is between 0-77 percent (the less cats you have, the greater the chance that an extra one will appear).

After a new cat has appeared, the amount of cat food will drop between 2-200 grams (the more cats there are, the more likely it is that a large amount of food will disappear).

The maximum number of cats you can have is 11, the minimum is 2.

25 What Happens if You Change a Character’s Name? Name Change

In the game you are able to decide the names of the characters yourself. Even after you have chosen a name once, you have the freedom to go back and change them later (See Page 217, 240). Changing their names will influence the game in the following ways:

Info Box: The Effects of Changing Names

Marle’s real name will become “the first 3 character of her name” + “dia.”

After defeating Yakra the 13th and returning to the banquet hall in Guardia Castle (present day), the HP and MP recovery meal you will be able to eat will be named “the first two character of Chrono’s name” + “Special.”

The character names as they appear in the quiz available in The Dimensional Vortex’s Mysterious Town will also change to reflect any alterations made to their names.

Picture: Depending on the names you choose, Tech names and in-game explanations can end up sounding hilarious. (NOTE: The picture shows Ayla doing the “kuronage” attack. It is called this because “kuro” are the first two characters of Chrono’s name, and “nage” comes from the verb “nageru,” meaning “to throw.” So the attack literally means “Throw Chrono,” or “Chrono Toss.” However, the player renamed Chrono “ha” in Japanese. Thus, the explanation highlighted within the red square in the top left corner of the picture shows that, accordingly, the explanation of the Tech has been changed to “hanage” instead of “kuronage.” This would be funny to Squeenix’s – and Ultimania’s – target Japanese audience since the new word it creates “hanage” means “nose hair” in Japanese, certainly one of the most fearsome-sounding attacks in the game. It’s almost as bad as being smashed by an Omega Flare… or licked by Frog.)

Page 581

26 What happens if you examine curtain, thrones and so on?

Things on the Map

Investigate particular places on the map and objects will move, characters will perform special actions. You might enjoy visiting those places and checking out those reactions.

Info Box: List of Places Where Something Happens When You Investigate

Location Happening
Truce, Second Floor of Crono's house The curtain opens and closes.
Sky Prison, Cell Block A man turns into a skeleton.
Ozzy’s (Vinegar’s) Palace, Conveyer belt path Examine the pulley and the upper part of the chain moves
Giant’s Claw, Old Throne Room The party leader sits on the throne and laughs.

27 The Piano Player’s Song List Grows Larger and Larger

Pianist’s Songs

If you treat the female piano player at Truce Inn to a drink, she’ll play you a song, and the number of songs she can play increases the story progresses. The type of song and the requirements for unlocking those songs are listed below. Also, after you unlock two or more songs every time you buy her a drink the song she’ll play is chosen at random.

Info Box: Additional Songs and Conditions to Unlock Them

Song Name Condition
Green Remembrance Can be heard from the start of the game
The Wind’s Longing Return to the Present in chapter 4, “I’m Home!”
Desolate World Return to the Present in chapter 9, “The People of Demon Village”.
Wind, Sky and Earth Rhythym Go to the Primitive Age in chapter 12, “Red Stone, Rare Stone”.
Corridors of Time Go to the Ancient Age in chapter 18, “Magic Kingdom Zeal”

28 Dialog Before and After Battles Changes According to the Situation

Enemy Dialogue

During the story there are a lot of bosses to fight, but one part of those battles, the conversations that lead into and follow them, can change depending on the circumstances. For example, the battle that occurs in Zeal Temple with the Dalton Golem – regardless of the outcome of this fight the story will progress, but if you win a frustrated speech by Dalton will be added. Also, the lines delivered when you battle Nizbel in Pteran Castle change depending on whether or not you spoke with Nizbel before the fight.

29 The Unexpected Origin of AU, the Name of the Character Hiding Behind the Shield

Monsters’ Names

In the Black Dream there is a monster who goes by the strange name of “AU.” At first glance you may think this mean “hero,” but the truth is that the golden shield braced before the shadowy figure is also one part of the origin of this name. In the Periodic Table of Elements, gold is represented by the symbol “Au,” so that is where his name is derived from. (Gold shield – Au Shield – “AU”)

(NOTE: Ok. This one is tricky and may require a bit of Japanese knowledge and a gander at the original scan to understand. Also, I honestly don’t remember what this guy’s name is in the English version anyway; so that only further impedes my ability to explain this satisfactorily. Moral of the story is the enemy’s name is a really lame pun. In Japanese, a lot of words with different meanings sound the same; a fertile ground for punning. The big joke here is that in katakana the enemy’s name is “eiyu-“ which shares its pronunciation with the two-character kanji meaning, basically, “hero” or “brave person.” So a Japanese person would probably assume that was the meaning. However – and here’s the real knee-slapper – it turns out that they named him that because they were trying to awkwardly transliterate the Periodic Table symbol for gold, Au, into Japanese. Get it? He has a gold shield and… oh never mind… Let’s just get to the big finish, shall we?)

30 A Door to Another Chrono Hidden Within the Ending (lit. “…the Ending, etc…/ the Ending and other places” but that sounds really awkward.)

Examination of Events

In an ending movie and some of the additions special to the DS version, there are some parts that you won’t understand if you have only played Chrono Trigger. The truth is that these sections suggest a connection to Chrono Trigger’s sequel, Chrono Cross. That game is set in a Gaurdia Kingdom that has been decimated by Porre (lit. “Parepori”) 20 years after the adventure of Chrono and company, and there are clues as to how that came to pass hidden within Chrono Trigger.

Picture 1: In one ending, is the baby picked up by Lucca really Chrono Cross’ heroine, Kid?

Picture 2: In Event I, “The Darkness at the End of Time” (lit. “Time’s Darkness), the “Dream Devourer” you battle makes one think of an evolved form of Chrono Cross’ final boss, “The Devourer of Time."

(NOTE: In the screenshot, the dialogue box basically reads: “If everything vanishes, that is fine. If everything is lost, then so be it.” Now, I know this is the kind of thing people love to overanalyze – I have read some of those Magus/Guile posts : ) – so I’ll leave it at that for now. BUT I will say there are definitely a few different ways to translate/interpret what Magus/Janus/Jacky is saying here.)

Picture 3: In Event H, “The Dimensional Vortex,” Dalton’s declaration that Porre will seize political power is in agreement with the background of Chrono Cross.

(NOTE: In the screenshot, Dalton is saying: “Because someday I will make Porre into world’s the strongest military nation and destroy your country. Don’t ever forget that, Crono!” Again, some minor variance probably exists in how to translate that one as well, but I’m fairly confident with that one.)

We secured an e-mail interview with Mr Masato Katō, the man responsible for the ever-popular story of Chrono Trigger. Questions were mainly focused on the production of the Super Nintendo version.

What kind of work is Chrono Trigger to you?

Right from the start we go straight to the heart of the matter, huh? (laughs) Let’s see, how should I answer?

For me past titles are just “titles I worked on in the past.” That’s really all they are, nothing more, nothing less. But to answer like that would be a bit too blunt, so perhaps I should think about what kind of game it is…
I suppose it might be called an RPG on the Super Nintendo, primarily targeting the age range of the upper years of elementary school, in which I tried to figure out what could be done and what should be done in a game about time travel.

Up to that point I had never made an RPG, I’d only been involved in Action and Character Development games, so it was probably the first title I went into with a strong awareness of matters like “What kind of story should an RPG have? What kind of story could only work for a game?”

How did the production of the Super Nintendo version progress?

At the very start the entire production staff of 50 or 60 people were gathered together in a large meeting room and each gave their opinions on what kind of game we wanted to make. Thinking about it now, it was a pretty messed up way to go about things. (laughs)

Ever since I was a boy I’ve liked Sci-Fi, and within that really loved time travel and time patrolling kinds of stories. The person who initially suggested we do a time travel piece was actually someone from outside of the project, and I objected to it at the time. Because I liked time travel stories so much, I knew that dealing with this subject in a game carried an unusually high danger of becoming a boring, unappealing work. However, my opposition to going with time travel was in the minority, and furthermore, the person who became the de-facto scenario head wasn’t the person who had originally suggested it, but me. What the heck was that all about?

After that, for the first year I spent hours every week in meetings at Mr Horī’s studio (Yūji Horī - Supervisor). I had to summarise any suggestions I’d been given or ideas I’d had about quest scenarios. I’d then take the parts that we’d worked on in the meetings back to my own company and think about how to continue those stories.

Do you have any funny behind-the-scenes stories from the production period?

Funny behind-the-scenes stories, huh… No, I don’t think there are any. (laughs) I just silently beavered away at my desk… while listening to prog rock on my headphones. Back then it was a job that was quite isolated, with me shut away in my own little world.

Oh, at the initial meeting I turned in a design I’d drawn in pencil for the party’s combined attack. The producer Mr Sakaguchi just smirked and said, “Don’t turn in scribbles like this.” Well, I guess it was right after I joined the company, so I wasn’t able to use my own booth or computer, I’d just drawn it sitting at the long meeting room table. (laughs)

There was also a time during a meeting when the idea of the main character dying came up, and the whole room suddenly burst into laughter. I seemed to be the only one who thought “That was a serious suggestion, what’s so funny?” and sat looking blank. (laughs) Although at that point Mr Horī did say “Hey, that might be pretty interesting.” Incidentally, the idea that I had at that time was for Crono to really die, and the others would have to go back in time and enlist a version of Crono from the night before the Fair. Then after the final battle they would have to return him to that point in time and bid him farewell. But that idea was rejected (laughs). They said it had to be a happy ending, so we eventually settled on the story with the clone as it is today.

I also used to stop by Mr Mitsuda the composer’s booth a lot, listen to some of the music he was making and tell him what I thought of it. One time he got really angry all of a sudden and was like “If you’re going to complain about every little thing, make it yourself!” (laughs)

But you know, looking back on it, they’re all good memories. Maybe.

What was difficult about writing a time travel story?

I wrote it 15 years ago, so it’s hard enough to remember how I felt at the time. (laughs)

Firstly, there’s the matter of what kind of time scale to give both the whole story and the individual quests. You can go on a journey across time, through past and future. You can directly influence events in history. Together with your allies, you can change the world. I racked my brains on how to bring out that sense of excitement and thrill as much as possible.

Furthermore, when making a game about time travel there’s a high chance of it not being done well and becoming like a chore for the player. Like planting a flag in the past and checking on the effects of it in the present and future over and over again, for instance. This could be said about RPGs in general, but if you think it through, whether it’s “do this,” “take this,” “defeat these monsters,” or “plant this flag,” it can become just a long string of errands.

With time travel, you have to develop quests that allow the player to visit different worlds back and forth along the timeline. This being the case it needs to be made easy to understand even more so than other kinds of games, or else the player can get lost and have no idea where to go or what to do next. You have to make it so that the player can clearly visualise causes and effects. On the other hand, there’s also the pitfall of it becoming a boring “plant the flag” kind of game. These are the kinds of things I had to take into consideration.

Which character do you feel most emotionally attached to and why?

It’s a hard choice, but if I had to narrow it down to one, I guess it’d be Lucca. I like characters like her who don’t need to act spoilt or flirty but can be dignified and stand on their own two feet. She never rejects the world or others, she’s adaptable and kind, and unexpectedly bewitching when she occasionally misses the point of things. (laughs)
Magus and Frog are close seconds.

I also think Robo’s design is excellent. I wanted them to make a real one, but at the time the market for figures and the technology available to manufacturers hadn’t taken off as much as it has today. Maybe someone will make one sometime soon? (laughs)

Which events do you like and why?

Perhaps the Prophet vs. Lavos ending. His lines “If history is to change, let it change! If the world is to be destroyed, so be it! If my fate is to be destroyed... I must simply laugh!” are a great expression of life. It gives me the chills, even if I did write it myself. (laughs)

I also liked Robo cultivating Fiona’s Forest, that’s the kind of chance to change the world and change history that I wanted to have.

When the game was originally released I cited Lucca and Robo’s meeting as the event I liked, too. Lucca asking, “What do you want to do?” and treating this machine as an equal. It’s like Robo is reborn as, prompted by Lucca’s question, he starts to wonder for himself, “What do I want to do? What should I do? What must I do?”

How did you feel when you heard there was going to be a DS remake?

I wanted it to be based on the original Super Nintendo release rather than the Playstation version. I thought we should look at the additional elements from the Playstation version, re-examine and re-work them to make it a complete edition. That’s how it struck me and I told the staff so later on.

Some wanted to see Radical Dreamers (released on Satellaview , the game that became the inspiration for Chrono Cross) included as an extra on the DS version, was there ever a plan to do that?

No, I don’t think there was much demand to have Radical Dreamers included. If we did include it that would mean part of Chrono Trigger’s story would head into a different direction. As I stated before, for this version what we had in mind from the start was how best to port Chrono Trigger to the DS, how to rework the elements that weren’t developed properly in the PS version and to collate and revamp the whole thing.

As for Radical Dreamers, I have talked about the possibility of reworking it into some different form, but at present I don’t know what will happen. Personally I have lots of doubts about re-releasing it as it is, so I’ve also been discussing how to revise it after all this time.

What message would you give to the people reading this book?

No matter what it is, something that has taken serious effort to make is crammed full of the various thoughts of all the staff members involved in its production. I think it’s a wonderful thing that the crystallisation of those thoughts can reach other people. Looking back on when Chrono Trigger was first made, for me it’s a job from over 15 years ago. 15 years… Thank you to all the people who have held Chrono Trigger in their hearts all throughout that time.

And to those who will be playing Chrono Trigger for the first time, please enjoy your adventure through timewith Crono, Lucca, Marle and the others to your heart’s content.

Translated by kobun20. Please note that the old man character is Gaspar, intended to be the 8th character of Chrono Trigger but ultimately cut. This is proven thanks to the Chrono Trigger V-Jump Player's Guide.

Page 584, Idea Sketch

Page 585, Idea Sketch

kobun20 has graciously provided scanlations:

Page 584, Idea Sketch

Page 585, Idea Sketch

Transcriptions:

A first-time ever exclusive!

Mr. Kato's own "Chrono Trigger" early development concept sketches

Tin Robot (This thing? Needs some work...)

Prehistoric Girl

Aristocrat's Daughter (Elf King's Daughter?)

Monster Man (In some kind of Godzilla costume?)

Inventor Girl

Protagonist

Maoh / Demon King

Wise Man

An image of the main characters. Robo's design and size are completely different here, while Crono gives off an impression of a mischevous brat. And in place of Frog, a "monster man" would have appeared instead?

The three heroines

Prehistoric girl (21)

The cheerful, energetic type Marle (14)

Inventor girl (19)

A rough sketch of Ayla, Marle, and Lucca with an early idea of what their ages could be like. Marle's short haircut looks so very different than the Marle we know.

Lucca (image)

In this characterization image, Lucca makes a dramatic appearance in a cloud of smoke that was probably produced by an invention of hers. Could the original Lucca have been even more flamboyant and wild than our own?

Crew gathering

A wild-looking Crono stands at the heart of this picture, with all the main characters converging in one image! Drawn like the cover of a shounen manga, this page is filled with life and pulsing with energy!

"Chrono Trigger is crammed full of every idea I had about music at the time."

Mitsuda Yasunori
Interview

When attempting to convey the charm of Chrono Trigger, one cannot forget to include the music of Yasunori Mitsuda. Whether it be stories from the days of the SNES version’s development or concerns about the DS version’s sound, we went and spoke with Mr. Mitsuda about all kinds of interesting topics.

"I feel the “wild, unrefined quality” lends a lot of power to the music."

The SNES version of Chrono Trigger marked your debut at a composer in the game industry. Once more, could you please tell us how you came to be in charge of the music?

Mitsuda: From the start, I joined Square (now Square-Enix) because I wanted to compose songs. However, back then there were only a few people who could make sound effects and work as sound engineers, so for the first two years that was the only type of job they’d give me. Then, one day I went directly to Mr. Sakaguchi (Executive Producer Hironobu Sakaguchi) and said, “I want to write songs. I don’t care what kind of project it is, just please let me give it a shot.” At that time Mr. Sakaguchi said, “All right then, try this,” referring to some project that had just come up, a game called Chrono Trigger. So, it wasn’t like, “We need you for this project or else we’re doomed.” It was more like, “Well, if you really want to give it a shot, knock yourself out.” The whole decision was surprisingly nonchalant.

But, as far as you were concerned, this was finally the chance you had been waiting for, right?

Mitsuda: Well, to tell you truth, even when I was working in sound effects, I was still secretly writing and compiling songs. But no matter how many I made, I could never present them to anyone, so I was really frustrated those two years. Because of that, when I was assigned to Chrono Trigger, even though I had technically just begun work as a composer, I would go through the pile of songs I had already stored up and choose one that I thought fit the game world. If I felt that I didn’t already have a song to fit a particular scene, then I would go back and create a new piece of music.

Is the game’s main theme, “Chrono Trigger,” also one of the pieces you had stockpiled earlier?

Mitsuda: That song, “Chrono Trigger,” was one that I wrote only when the game’s development had begun in earnest. I wrote the whole thing in one sitting; I just couldn’t contain my excitement at finally being able to write music. The day after I was told, “Well, we’re leaving it up to you,” the final version was just about finished. I think the feeling of careening along in the intro part is all of my pent-up desire to be a composer finally bursting into existence.

Chrono Trigger spans several time periods, each composed of varied genres. This is another one of the game’s unique characteristics, isn’t it?

Mitsuda: I have always liked different genres myself, so challenging myself to create a variety of songs – without just milking one genre – was really a lot of fun. The “me” that existed back then, every time he thought, “I’d like try and make this kind of song,” he took all of those ideas and jammed them into the game. In a way, I suppose you could say that’s the meaning of “Chrono Trigger.” If I go back and try to listen to those songs again now, there are a lot of parts that are rough around the edges. It’s kind of embarrassing, but at the same time I feel like if you look at it in a positive way the wild, unrefined quality brings a lot of power to the work.

In your mind, is their a single theme that unites your entire oeuvre?

Mitsuda: If I were to try and put it into a few words, I’d say, “Music that can conjure up a scene.” Take, for example, the Middle Ages world map theme: rolling fields stretching into the distance, a lone windmill… I am driven to create the type of song that can allow you to clearly visualize that scene, even if you just listen to the music without looking at the screen. Songs can really strengthen something’s meaning. That’s because it makes it easy for most people to imagine the same scene and, when coupled with the game’s visuals, it can create for players an even stronger impression of that scene. With regard to that concept, it’s something that I knew I absolutely wanted to do ever since I began working on Chrono Trigger.

Which is your favorite song?

Mitsuda: Though I enjoy songs such as the main theme, I’d have to say the ending music, “To Far Away Times,” has a very special place in my heart. I’d go so far as to say it’s a song that I may not be able to write now. That song was based on a piece I wrote a long time ago. I mixed in a phrase from Chrono Trigger’s main theme and reworked it a bit, imagining scenes with Crono and company and the thoughts that come with them. I wanted the piece to capture the kind of feelings you can’t truly express in words like, “After coming back from a long journey, I’m happy that we saved our planet’s future, but I’m sad because now I have to say good bye to all my friends.”

{NOTE: “To Far Away Times” is, as far as I can tell, literally translated as “To His Direction When Time Becomes Far Away” or “To Him When Time Grows Distant.” Obviously, this doesn’t quite have the ring of the name they eventually decided on.}

{NOTE: I chose the word “scenes” to describe what Yasunori is discussing about halfway through his response. I think this makes sense in context, and he uses a Japanese word for scene [シーン] several times over the course of this interview. However, I do have to point out that after zooming into the PDF a million times there is not doubt that the actual word in the Japanese version of the interview is ジーン. That means “gene,” like DNA and all that good stuff. Now, he could be using the term in a poetic way, referring to the more meme-like concepts of Chrono Trigger that continue to propagate themselves in the minds of players long after the adventure has concluded. He could. But I really don’t think so. I honestly suspect it is a typo as the two words are very similar – just two small dots separate them – and the idea of “scenes” fits much more readily with his response than that of some impromptu discussion of genetics. Regardless, for the sake of accuracy I just wanted to make a note. I’m certainly open to different opinions on this one.}

Did you really watch the in-game ending and then write that song?

Mitsuda: No, the visuals still weren’t done, so I composed the song first, based on what I had heard from someone in the planning department. Then the programmers created visuals that would fit the music. I had heard that the final sequence would show Crono and company flying around in Epoch the so I thought I’d like to create a song with the feeling that you were careening through the entirety of the Chrono Trigger story. I’m sure you agree that the programmers did a great job matching visuals to that idea.

{NOTE: The Epoch is literally the Shiruba-do/Silver Bird, likely a pun similar to Jenosaido-mu/Genocide Dome, the Japanese name for Geno Dome}

By the way, there is a song called “MITSUDA” in the Music Room of the Gallery (see page 569) that doesn’t seem to be used anywhere in the game…

Mitsuda: You see, I originally made that song to be used in the Developers’ Room (see page 562). I had heard that you can do whatever you want in the Developer’s Room, so I was going to have that song play when my comment came up. However, in the end it wasn’t used [smiles].

The Theme for the DS Version’s Audio: “A Perfect Replica of the SNES Version”

How did you feel when you heard that the game was going to be rereleased on the DS?

Mitsuda: Well, it’s pretty complicated, right? I mean, I am extremely happy, but at the same time I was really inexperienced at the time I was working on Chrono Trigger. Putting that part of me out there into the world again is painful [smiles]. It’s a battle between my joy that there are people playing Chrono Trigger once more… and my embarrassment. I think it’s both.

You are officially involved with the DS version as the Music Supervisor , but is there a specific area where you are focusing your energy?

Mitsuda: I think a lot of people who were elementary and middle school students when Chrono Trigger came out on the SNES are now adults and are saying, “Maybe I’ll play a little Chrono Trigger again.” The image they have of the original game is vividly burned into their memories. Players are sharp, so if there is even the smallest change in the music they are going to be able to tell the difference. And if that’s the case, we have to work to make this version a perfect replica of the SNES version. That said, because the Super Nintendo version was made using considerably older equipment, we can’t just bring it over to the DS “as-is.” So we search for sounds in the latest synthesizers that are as close as possible to the original sounds and use them to create the music. From the perspective of a composer, this is an unusually arduous task. But if you think about the fan’s feelings, wouldn’t they be happier if the music was just like they remember it from the SNES original?

On the other side of the coin, 13 years have passed since the SNES version was released. I think there are also a lot of players who have never experienced the original game. How do you feel about that?

Mitsuda: With today’s games, it’s expected that they’re going to have full symphonic scores blaring out of the speakers, right? So, I’m extremely interested in how today’s players will feel when they play Chrono Trigger and hear the music, which was originally composed on a system that only had eight sounds. I would be especially happy if I could have elementary and middle school students, people for whom the DS version is their first version, send me an e-mail or post their impressions on my home page’s bulletin board. Also, since this version of Chono Trigger is on a handheld, I think there will be a lot of people who will end up playing with the volume turned down. By all means, I would like to encourage them to plug in their headphones and listen to the music while they play. That is my heart-felt request, as a composer [smiles].

{NOTE: This is a request that would be particularly important in Japan, where the idea of playing music or making noise in general in a lot of public settings is frowned upon. If you were to play your DS on the bus or train or while waiting at a store, you would be expected to have the volume off so as not be a nuisance. With that mindset, I can definitely see why Yasunori would specifically implore people to bust out the headphones since they would be doing themselves (and him) a great disservice if they never really listened to the game.}

(2008/11/14 Recorded at Square-Enix)

Comment at the bottom of page 587, next to his picture:
I’m extremely interested in how kids today will feel about this game’s music.

{NOTE: A quotation is a quotation. It can’t change, so some people may wonder why sometimes the text in the body of the interview and pull-out blurbs scattered on the pages don’t always match in this translation. That’s because they don’t always match in the Japanese either. Several of the headers and pull-outs are paraphrases, and thusly not put in actual quotation marks though they are based on something Yasunori said in his responses.}

Written at the bottom of page 587, below his picture:

Yasunori Mitsuda’s official homepage “Our Millennial Fair” can be found at:

Written at the top right of page 587, in the Character Profile Info-Box:

Yasunori Mitsuda
Profile
He joined then-Square in 1992. He began his career as a composer on Chrono Trigger. Since 1998, he has been a multi-faceted freelancer, working on varied game, anime and movie projects.

7.jpg
Neutral Time Adventure NuuMamonjaa~ Neutral
[note: NuuMamonjaa, as we will see later, is an amalgamation of the main characters' names Nuu and Mamo; adding the 'njaa' to the end makes it sound like the Japanese pronunciation of Ranger, as in from a tokusatsu show (i.e. Red Ranger)]
Story: Izawa Hiroshi
Art: Kikuchi Akihiro

Right after these messages! [lit. Right after this!]
Don't change that channel <3

10-11.jpg
GATE 1
The Story of The Formation of NuuMamonja!
['The Story of' can be optional; comes from the '...no Maki' at the end, lit. 'The Scroll of', and is used often with period pieces; probably used to be comically "epic" here]

Long, long ago, way before Nuu and Mamo met

(sfx: rumbling)

A mysterious object was flying through the universe.

-

Meanwhile, here at the village of the Mamo tribe..

-

Tomorrow I'm going to climb the mountain, mo

[note: it seems the Mamo end their sentences with Mo; the long o sound is held out, which written in plain text would me moo, which.. looks like the sound a cow makes; may want to typeset it as mō or mo~/mo-]

(sfx: rustling)

I'll pick lots of fruit, mo

-

Hm!?

(sfx: sparkle)

-

(sfx: more rumbling, it's literally nubobobo, which is notable for Nu in the front..)

-

S-Something's happening, mo!!

-

(sfx: ka-boooom)

-

My hoooouse! [lit. Mamo's house is...!]

-

[Uncertain of the text bubble; looks like sound effects for rustling, but as speaking it seems meaningless; maybe *cough* or something]

(sfx: Eh?)

-

That sure was a fall.

[not 100% certain; it's definitely a pun or wordplay from Mamo's 'Something's happening' (okkotte kuru, which is already a weird spelling) by saying 'okkochita,' which doesn't have a clear meaning; probably related to 'ochita,' fell.]

-

Who the heck are you, mo?!

I-I'm Nuu.

-

My favorite thing is my mop.
It's pretty useful when you want to scratch the middle of your back.

(small text: what the heck, what the heck)

Don't tell me about that, mo!!

-

The House of the Mamo Tribe's Elder

-

Your honor! [lit. Elder-sama]

(background sfx: chatter, whisper)

I want you to do something about this weird Nuu thing, or whatever it's called, mo!!

(small text: I sure have been caught)

-

Nuu, or whatever, having come to our village
you must swallow your pride and obey our rules. [lit. 'I'll have you accept our conditions'; accept here is 'nomu' which can also mean to drink, which sets up the next page's pun....]

12-13.jpg
Well, I sure can swallow this water. [lit. If you want me to swallow, you sure must mean water.]

Don't just drink it on your own, mo...

-

Aa..

-

Sploosh

-

Waaaa~ What's going on, mo!!

(sfx: kyuuuuuuuuuuuun, the sound of a gate from Chrono Trigger)

Sure dunnoooooo [lit. Daaaa naaaa; he ususally ends sentences with da na, which I usually translate as some form of 'sure am']

-

(sfx: buoooon, sound of a gate opening)

-

Aa! That Nuu is gone, mo!!
Now where did he run off to, mo!?

-

I sure am stuck...

-

Well then, visitors are a rare sight.

(sfx: wriggling)

Where are we, mo?

-

This is the place where all time periods intersect, the End of Time. [note: it's actually Farthest Reaches of Time, but End of Time is fine]
I am Hash, the gatekeeper of the farthest reaches.

It is a dreadful creature that exerts an evil force on all time periods...

-

I don't wanna go back to something like that, mo!! What do we do, mo? What do we do, mo?

Hmm...

-

You could just give up!

14-15.jpg

Ehhh!
Why do I have to live in a place like this, mo!!
And with this guy, too!!

You two make a great combination.

-

Flash [as in flash a glare]

(sfx: rub, pick)

-

(sfx: sound of light turning on)

Truly, I had a short life, mo.

-

Seriously. We should come up with a name for you as a pair!
What are your names?

Mamo here, mo!

I'm Nuu

-

If we combine the two of you, Nuu and Mamo...
(sfx: Hmmm...)

-

The Farthest Reaches Comedy Brothers!!

-

What do you think?

That has nothing to do with our names, mo!!

-

Hmmm...
(sign: Spekkio's Room)

There's no choice, mo.
If we're stuck living here, let's make ourselves at home, mo!

-

(sfx: bang from door opening)

W-what are you!?

-

Who do you think I am!?
I'm the great God of War, Spekkio!

-

Alright, first off, we change the wallpaper, mo!

Yup.

Hey!

-

Let's throw out that dirty futon.

Yup.

Wawa!

-

Alright!

(sign: NuuMamonjaa's Room)

-

So that's that then.

-

Heeeey, so you've decided on a name for your partnershi--

-

(sfx: mop squeaking)

My room...

Thus was the formation of NuuMamonjaa. Go, go, NuuMamonjaa! Until you return to your own time period!

~

16-17.jpg
CLAY COMIC
Exciting Clay Action
Nuu and Mamo

(The Story Of) Picnics Are Fun, mo!

-

Picnics sure are fun.

Why did you bring ice cream to a picnic, mo!?

-

Cause it sure is delicious

You're gonna get the runs. [lit. And then you'll have a cold belly. I asked my Japanese friend about this phrase, and she said in Japanese cold stomach leads to 'friends with the toilet']

-

Hau--

(sfx: surprise)

-

Toilet!
Toilet!

Hey now..

-

Despite all that, what a nice view, mo...
The mountains're nice, mo
[I assume these are the phrases spoken by the mamo on Denadoro Mts...]

-

It sure is a nice view over here!

-

Hooo...

Gyafuun! [Some kind of surprised scream?]

The end

-

GATE 2

(The Story Of) Zoom Zoom with Mahha

-

Due to various circumstances, Nuu and Mamo have fallen into the End of Time, and due to further circumstances the Time & Space Squad NuuMamo-nger have formed, but...

(background picture: MOUNTAIN - MAMO VILLAGE)

arrow box: Radar Operator Spekkio

Wh-why am I doing this..

-

(sfx: long high pitched sound, like an alarm...)

It's an emergency, mo!!

-

I j-just farted...

(background sfx: more high pitched sounds, like a Nuu fart I guess...)

-

(sfx: more farts)

Cut it out already, mo!! [lit. So insistent!]

It's for real this time!

(sfx around Nuu: more farts, kind of.. sputtering now)

18-19.jpg
Knowing exactly what will happen as we face the future...

Well, there's only one way to find out. [lit. well, if we go we'll understand.]

-

Entering that gate should allow you to go to the future.

-

Spekkio! I have a mission for you as well!

Eh?

-

Until we return, I'll need you to do the housework and laundry, and begin to prepare dinner... And, let's see...

Mops sure are for housework.

-

Stop playing around!!

(sfx: kick, boing)

-

NuuMamo-nger, take off, mo~!

Yup.

-

AD 2300

That monster called Johnny is why I can't return home!

-

To return home, I have to take this road.

Johnny only lets those who beat him in a race to pass!

-

That's simple, mo! All we have to do is challenge the guy and win, mo!

Yeah! I can take down 5 bowls in 1 minute!

U-uh..
It isn't a speed eating challenge...

-
[note: the robot speaking text is entirely in katakana; as you might expect, this makes them sound robotic]
SUSPICIOUS PERSONS

PERSONS-RIBBIT

-

Hold it!

-

Boss! <3 [Aniki- <3]
[Aniki here is literally older brother. It's used often in gangs or other hierarchal male groups. Some would translate this as "Bro!" or "Big bro!" I personally like Boss, which is pretty neutral. I leave it up to whoever would typeset this to decide what they would like.]

Aa! Johnny!

-

The Lord of the Rats eh?
You know ya gotta defeat me in a race to get through here.

Yeah, and today we have come to challenge you!

(background robots: Boss! Boss!)

-

Nuu-san! Mamo-san! It's all you!

-

Shf shf (sound of throwing punches)

Shf
-

Shf

Shf

-

We'll drop you in one round, mo

I'm not gonna do boxing!

-

20-21.jpg

-

Johnny Racing Form - On!

-

kasho--n (engines revving)

-

pakon (sound of the wheels touching)

-

Yeah!

jaa--n (Tada type sound)

-

Hey hey! You gonna do this or ain't ya? [Decide already.]

Ma-mamo-san, where's your car?

Right here, mo!

[The green and yellow arrow symbol is used in Japan for Novice drivers.]

I'm gonna run.

Transformation! Nuu Jet!

gaki---n (machinery sound, hi pitched)

goki--n (machiner sound, deeper)

-

jika--n

Nuu Jet - Complete

-

I... I can't move...

(sfx: zuko---n - everyone falling over)

-

Johnny! If we win, you become our servant, mo!

Interesting. I accept!

-

Beep

Boooop

-

GO!

(sfx: baon!)

-

Energy supply!

-

Nuu Turbo Full Power!

(sfx: bobu--n)

Gege-!

-

Nuu-san, that's amazing!!

-

Dammit!

I won't let anyone in front of me!!

-

See ya

Ah!

-

Nuu!

Hurry, mo! Hurry, mo!

(sfx: coughing, wobbly)

Guess I c-can't... keep up anymore...

-

(sign: Nuu's Body)

-

(sfx: loud rolling)

Guwa--!

Stop us, mo!

GOAL

-

(sfx: loud rolling)

-

Aah! That's my house...

-

(sfx: LOUD EXPLOSION)

-

Case closed, mo!

And that's how Johnny became the servant of Nuu and Mamo!

I'm home...

-

22-23.jpg

-

(sign: Festival! Game Making)
Surprising Scoop!
'NuuMamonger' has become a game!!

yellow text on right: A Chrono Trigger crossover!?

Mamo text on left: Yahoo! Mamo is the King, mo!!

Nuu: I.. I'm the main character

What kind of secrets could there be in the map?

Big scoop! Nuu and Mamo have been put in a game!
According to these screens, it looks like an RPG! I can't wait for the release date!!
... Or something like that. Actually, it's an original game created with 'RPG Tsukuuru' from ASCII Software.
Give it a try and it will teach you everything you need to know to create.

caption for lower right image: Nuu, standing on the stage, tells a joke. What kind of scene is this?
lower right image - Nuu text box" Kato-chan pe-

blue box on bottom:
Title: This game was used to create the game
Create your own original RPG. For Playstation.

red box: Continued on page 28, mo!

-
GATE 3 - (The Story Of) Magical Ka-boom

middle white box: NuuMamonger - Introduction to All Members!

(clockwise from Mamo)

NuuMamonger Member #1 MAMO

Radar Operator & Housework Helper SPEKKIO

NuuMamonger Commander - HASH

Servent JOHNNY

Eh?

NuuMamonger Member #2 NUU

-

Heeeeeeeey! Why do *I* gotta be the servant here??

You promised to become our servant if you lost the race, mo.

-

Yeah, well what bout this then!?

So you won't escape, mo.

They sure are pretty cool lookin' shoes.

-

(background sfx: high pitched alarm)

There's trouble!

Let's go, mo!

Yup!

H- Hey...

-

I'm not done speakin'..

-

Gue--!

(sfx are pretty obvious!)

-

We have a Priority One case in the year 1000 AD.

A Priority one!?

-

A child's cake was stolen, you see.

(sfx: neck crack)

-

There's no way that counts as Priority One.

Strawberry cake sure is yummy

-

I think I'll bring Spekkio along this time.

Eh!?

-

Ah jeez, I guess, even though you've never called me for a case before this
Or how about, It's finally time for my true power...

-

Everyone's already left.

-

AD 1000 - Heckran Cave

Heke Heke [I guess this is laughter?]

Cake is my favorite food, kehe~

Gimme back my cake!

-

(sfx: gate opening, landing on the ground)

-

Hold it, mo!

-

Holdin' it.

(sfx: slap)

Not you.

-

NuuMamonger! You've come for me!

It'll be all right, mo.

-

DA--!!

-

(sfx: Nuu is making scrubbing sounds, Mamo is making metallic thwacks)

-

(sfx: heavy breathing)

The spade was not effective, mo.

Mop too...

These guys intended to used THOSE to take him down?

-

Hey! If I beat this guy, promote up from Servant!

Do what you want, mo.

-

Awwright! Hey you! Ya got three seconds left of this lifetime!!

Johnny s-sure is cool

-

Racing Mode - On!

-

Take this! Jet Tackle!!

-

(sfx: ching!)

text: Still attached.

-
(sfx: booom!)

Guwa-!!

Johnny remains Servant for the time being, mo.

-

26-27.jpg

-

Ah jeez, I can't watch this.

No matter how many cuts or strikes you land on Heckran, it will be pointless.

Hiromichi Tanaka was interviewed back when Final Fantasy III was being remade for the DS. The full interview is found here. Legends of Localization picked up on a fascinating bit about Chrono Trigger, reproduced below:

From FFI and on, we would always look at the previous games for things we felt could have been better. FFI had an orthodox design, while II featured a narrative story plus a brand new growth system that didn’t use experience points. FFIII had jobs you could switch between while you fought, the ability to cast multi-target spells, and other such gameplay tempo improvements, as well as more fully-refined experience and battle systems.

After we finished FFIII, we started FFIV with the idea of a slightly more action-based, dynamic overworld rather than keep combat as a completely separate thing. But, at some point, it wound up not being IV anymore… Instead, it was eventually released as “Seiken Densetsu 2” (Secret of Mana), but during development it was actually referred to as “Chrono Trigger”. (laugh)

At the time, just after FFIII, we were working with Mr. Toriyama on a game with a seamless, side-view system. A CD-ROM attachment for the Super Famicom was scheduled to be released, you see. So we had this enormous game planned out for the CD-ROM attachment, but ultimately we were never able to release it.

So we had the Chrono Trigger project changed to a new game, and this other game we had been working on was condensed down into Seiken Densetsu 2. Because of this, Seiken 2 always felt like a sequel to FFIII to me.

I supervised the inclusive graphics of the cut-scenes in their entirety. In regards to the majority of the work, it would have to be the scenery graphics. So far, the graphics in general have been fixed images with a birds-eye view. In other words, to better illustrate: houses, roads, grasslands, walls or some such graphic components join up and complete the scene. This time there wasn't such components. To the best of my ability, I wanted to display the feeling of a seamless graphic.

I can say that this has been tried even with graphics such as the courthouse in “Chrono Trigger” on SNES. Though storage capacity is largely used, such a map could display with one stored image. Not only components, but also houses, roads, grasslands, and walls are depicted as one image. Even town maps use this method. I am trying to the best of my ability to also be able to do things like match various color changes to the angle of the map in production and naturally transfer to cut-scenes.

???: Lavos is no longer here.
This is a future timespace where
Lavos has already been defeated.
We destroyed him.
[I find it curious that this future(?) Magus refers to himself throughout this ending as 'ore'--
Magus in the rest of CT refers to himself as 'watashi' everywhere but a single scene.]

Ｍａｇｕｓ「もっとも、お前たちが
やってきた世界で
俺たちが手を組んでいたかどうかは
知らぬがな。

Magus: Although I don't know
whether or not I joined forces
with you, in the world you come from.
[He said this to me with Magus in my party, so I assume he says the same thing no matter what.]

世界は、せんたくの数だけ存在する。

There are as many worlds out there as there are choices.

Ｍａｇｕｓ「この先で、新たな敵が
生まれようとしている。
この先に広がる、時の闇の底で。

Magus: Beyond [this Gate], a new
enemy is trying to come into being.
In the deepest depths of the Darkness
of Time beyond this point.

人の記憶を、夢を、想いを
喰らおうとしている...。

It's trying to devour people's
memories, their dreams, their thoughts...

Ｍａｇｕｓ「俺のジャマをするな。
お前たちはそこで見ているがいい...。

Magus: Don't get in my way.
You just stay there and watch...

((blah blah, Magus fights DD, sucks at it))

Ｍａｇｕｓ「クッ...
ま、まだだ......。

Magus: Ungh...
Not-- not yet...

((the party enters. In my party of Crono/Magus/Marle nothing interesting was said))

Ｍａｇｕｓ「ジャマはするなと
言ったはずだ...。

Magus: I told you not to get in my way...

サラ「なにもかも、消えてしまえばいい。
失われてしまえばいい......！

Schala: Everything should just disappear.
It should all be lost forever...!

Ｍａｇｕｓ「ダメだ！目を覚ませ！
目を覚ましてくれ......、サラ......！

Magus: No, don't! Open your eyes!
Please, wake up... Schala...!
['open your eyes/wake up' have the same metaphorical meaning in Japanese as they do in English -- he's begging her to break free of Lavos's influence.]

Schala: Sooner or later, my
consciousness will probably be
completely swallowed up by
Lavos.

絶望と悲しみの底で、
すべてを消し去ることを......
自分を消し去ってしまうことさえ
望んだのは、私自身なのだから......。

Because I myself was the one who,
in deepest grief and despair,
wished that everything... that even
my own existence would be erased...

サラ「いまのあなた方のちからでは、
私を解放することは不可能です。

Schala: All of you -- with your power
as it stands now, it's impossible for
you to free me.
[Note that she's specifically speaking in the plural, addressing the party as well as Magus.]

いえ、むしろ、
ちからに頼っている限り、
あなた方には世界の絶望も悲しみも、
いやすことはできないものです。

No, rather--
For as long as you rely on power,
none of you can heal this world's
grief, or its despair.

さあ、いまは、自分たちの時代に
おもどりなさい。

For now... back to your own eras
with all of you.

Ｍａｇｕｓ「姉上......。

Magus: Schala...

サラ「ジャキ......、ありがとう。
私は、もう以前の私ではないの......。
あなたは、強く生きて......。

Schala: Janus... thank you.
I'm not the same person that I was before...
Please, live on and be strong*...
[*literally "live strongly".
In this part, she talks in an informal style, and her speech almost sounds like the slang of a perfectly normal girl...
you can really feel her love for Janus in this bit, I think.]

Ｍａｇｕｓ「姉上！？

Magus: Schala!?

サラ「さようなら......

Schala: Goodbye...
[a formal "sayounara", which hints that she expects never to see him again.]

Ｍａｇｕｓ「姉上ーッ！

Magus: Schala--!!

Ｍａｇｕｓ「俺の力では、どうあっても
かなわぬというのか？

Magus: Do you really mean to say that
with my power, no matter what happens
it will never be enough?

ならば、俺という存在に、
これからの俺の日々に
いったいどんな意味があると
いうのか......？

If that's the way it is, just
what meaning could there
ever be in my existence, or
in my days to come?

Ｍａｇｕｓ「フッ、いいだろう......。
ならば、俺もすべてを投げ出して
消え去ってしまうとしよう。

Magus: Heh... very well, then...
If that's how it is, I too will
throw away everything and
disappear.

それでもまだ何かが残り、俺という
存在が続いていくというのならば......
その時こそ新たな何かが生まれ、
始まるのだろう。

And if even then, something still remains--
if some part of this being I call "myself" still
keeps existing...
Maybe then it will be possible for something
new to be born, to begin.

((Cue Magus poofing into the darkness, then reawakening in Random Forest A.))

ここは......？

うっ......

Where...?

Unh...

俺は......俺は、だれなんだ？
何も思い出せない......。
いったい、何がどうなっている......？

I...... Who-- Who am I?
I can't remember anything...
What in the world is going on...?

俺には、何か、どうしてもやらなくては
いけないことが......、見つけ出さなくては
ならないものがあった......はずだ。

There was something I... had to do...
no matter what...
Something I had to find...
I'm sure of it.

それを、なんとしても取り戻してみせる。
きっと、な。
No matter what happens, I'll get it back again.
No matter what.

And that's that. Like I said, not a lot different, but it's evident that the translator wasn't too worried about preserving nuance.

It has been a long, long time since the birth of Chrono Trigger, but I am pleasantly surprised that it continues to be loved by people to this very day.

When Chrono Trigger was released, I was just a twenty-year old beginner, a baby chick that didn't know its right from its left. Who would want to listen to songs composed by some amateur who had only spent a few years on the long road to becoming a composer? I still clearly remember the medley of emotions, the negativity blending with the desire to write music. Focusing every day solely on writing songs may have been the only way I swept away my trepidation.

Of course, even the game's release did little to assuage my fears and insecurities. This was before the Internet era; I wasn't able to check online right away to find out if people liked the music. It wasn't until after the release of the Chrono Trigger Soundtrack that people started sending me postcards and letters saying, "That's good music!" Little by little, I started to gain some confidence.

Chrono Trigger marked the beginning of my career, but no matter how much times passes the things people said and the lessons I learned are indelibly etched in my mind. I am sure that going forward there is still a great deal for me to learn from this work, so I hope that—much like its theme, "Transcending Time"—the work itself is able to continue to find a place in people's hearts.

One last thing. To everyone who played Chrono Trigger; everyone involved in making the game; and all the people who helped to bring up the Mitsuda Yasunori, the composer, I would like to express my gratitude. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

This game is what one would call a Sound Novel-type RPG. Create your own tension-filled survival game experience and enjoy plenty of branching scenarios and monster battles!

Broadcasts Begin Saturday, February 3rd!

An Adventure Overflowing with Tension!

While solving the mysteries and continuing to unfold the story in the game, become involved in various events with traps and monster battles! There's a crossroads in the storyline at every turn and a system that makes you feel like you are able to navigate freely inside dungeons. Also, depending on the player's actions, their comrades' level of trust will change accordingly making a big impact on the storyline and ending. In other words, the system is able to create varied story-lines each time you play. Even those unsure of sound novels will want the undeniably fun personalized experience! The overall image should feel like a fantasy novel aimed towards middle school students as the game progresses. Monster battles are timed battles where the player chooses commands. The battle scenes overflowing with realism should be fun!

There's Battles!

- Choose commands in real-time during battles with monsters!

There's Events!

- The storyline changes at every turn. Enjoy the fresh sense of game-play!

There's Even Good Graphics!

- The beauty of the graphics is what one would expect from Square. The profound mood enhances the game!

An Intense Battle System!

- Think carefully about the flow of the story and choose your commands wisely.During the course of the game, the player engages in various battles with monsters. Since the boss, (Lord) Lynx, has captured Kid once before and commenced a fateful execution, provoke monsters very cautiously! According to your actions in these battles, the story-line thereafter will change drastically! As the story advances, the battles become significant turning points.

Now, What About the Story?

In order to steal a legendary treasure, the “Frozen Flame,” the three main characters – a young boy, Serge; a young girl, Kid; and the illusive Gil – creep into the manor of the noble (Lord) Lynx who rules the remote town of Regiorra. However, at the Manor, the thieves fall into a range of traps and find themselves in a labyrinth of darkness. Kid's connection to (Lord) Lynx, Kid's past, and the mystery of the “Frozen Flame” will become clear during the search at the Manor. Now, what will Serge and Kid's fate be?

- A party of three thieves set their sights on (Lord) Lynx's Manor. What awaits them there?

Medieval European-esque Setting

- The story's time period scenery resembles that of medieval Europe. One might say it feels like traveling down an RPG royal road, so to speak. With the frequent use of movie-like angles, it becomes a stunning illustration!

Now then, what about the 4 titles introduced this time? Surely everyone is thinking that they cannot wait for each and every one of them. By the way, the broadcast schedule can be found in the table below! The titles are staggered to broadcast at 2 different times; however, DynamiTracer's pattern is a bit different, so be careful.

Aside from the broadcasts, will the software be available for purchase this time!? Let's try asking Katsunobu Iida of the advertising department about this possibility!

“At this point in time, we really haven't considered packaging any commercial products. Now, if a title proves to be popular, there may be a chance of broadcasting new material again such as sequels.”

(Iida).

Darn, a bit disappointing. But, if there are sequel broadcasts, it would certainly make a lot of people happy. There are certainly those hoping for that realization!

Lastly now, virtually all of the staff members involved in development would like to share a message with their users. No matter which staff member you talk to, they are all saying, “We hope you go completely nuts! Please look forward to it!”

- No matter the title, good content is certainly expected in the sequel.

Broadcast Time Schedule

DynamiTracer ON AIR 1/27-2/23

Koi wa Baransu ON AIR 1/27-2/3, 2/17-2/23

Radical Dreamers ON AIR 2/3-2/9, 2/24-3/1

Treasure Conflix ON AIR 2/10-2/16, 3/2-3/8

DynamiTracer

Takashi Tokita

- Participated in developing a lot of the software used in titles such as Chrono Trigger and Live A Live.Working with the capacity of 8M, development took about 4 months. It was quite a challenge with the limitations, but because of this on the other hand, I think it narrowed down the focus and made the development more simple. Since there is also unlockable content, you will want to clear everything if you can. In this game, getting the good items before your rival is key. Details from your rival along the way will serve as hints. Please give it your best shot!

Koi wa Baransu

Akihiko Matsui

- Worked on series such as Romancing SaGa and Final Fantasy and is now working on a gal game.

When working on a gal game, there are various planning steps at first, such as simulating a girl as a military commander. You could say that capacity was also an issue and in the end we settled on making it a board game. Since there were multiple programmers working on the graphics of the girls, there wasn't much uniformity, but on the other hand, that may be the point. I think it is quite an exciting game when you play many times and get the hang of it. There are also aspects of luck and I certainly hope that fellow gamers will play!

Radical Dreamers

Daisuke Fukugawa

- An energetic newcomer who joined in April. He has had training, but ran into quite the trouble on this

project.

The game suffered from capacity limitations and the story ended up changing 3 times, but I think the troubling part was that the enemies used Satellaview's maximum hardware power. Even the graphics had over 50 cuts and were re-drawn to make them work by utilizing the utmost limit. Since the characters were models, I definitely wanted the fine details to be seen. One of the focal points in the game is to feel a degree of freedom similar to that of an RPG. Since there are various story-lines, please take the challenge of clearing them all.

Treasure Conflix

Keita Eto

- Contributed to titles such as FF6 and Chrono Trigger. This time, Eto's focus was finding a balance between a shooter and an RPG.

During the initial planning stage, a little bit of RPG elements were supposed to be added to a shooter, but, more than expected, the RPG elements turned out to be strong content. Since the treasure hunting portion is quite extensive, please enjoy the hints to solve the riddles. There is a ton of treasure pieces and also an arrangement for a special treasure! Of course there are other objectives as well, such as upgrading your machine. There was a lot of effort put into the battle system and graphics, so please look forward to the intense battle scenes

I wanted to draw the bottom of the Emerald Green Sea, but while I tried doing it, it ended up looking too dense and when I transferred the data it really started to look just dark (muddy) so this one became the bottom of a regular sea. *sob*

自分の中では聖剣伝説の絵が気に入ったいたので、イラストに当初その名残が…。

I really have a personal affinity towards Seiken Densetsu illustrations so I think that kind of showed up here...

I got a lot of complaints to make this look "more realistic," so it ended up being a completely different design. I guess, it's good for what it is and I like it. It also transitioned into 3DCG really well.

This is a very quick, rough translation. It’s likely error-ridden and inconsistent and needs to be tweaked by someone with an actual understanding of the card game. I’m available to answer translation questions to the best of my ability here or at RinUzuki@gmail.com

In conjunction with the previously translated card game rules, I translated [一番手] as “first card position”/“first-position card”/”card in first position”.

particularly dubious or questionable translations have been underlined

Japanese often doesn’t clearly distinguish between

a) singular vs plural nouns, or

b) the subject of the action

So while [自分のx] = “your x (deck, card, etc.)” and [相手のx] = “your opponent’s x (deck, card, etc)”, when these phrases are absent, it can be ambiguous just whose card is being affected.

This is assuming more than two people can play the game or that there could be multiples of certain cards in play. As above, when a card affects another - like Kid adding 100 to a Serge card - it’s not clear if Kid adds 100 to one Serge card or all Serge cards.

- for the summon cards, I’m drawing a blank on the definition of [みの切り札]. [切り札] = “trump card”, but what that [み] means is unclear to me. As of 06/06/2015, I’ve translated the rule as such below, but this should be revised:

★このカードは特殊ルールのみの切り札カードです。
山札に入れられるのは一枚だけ。使用後は山札に戻せません。
This card trumps other card’s special rules.

So, please keep in mind that the rules laid out here are a rough/possibly incorrect approximation of the original and would have to be combed through more finely to actually fully make sense in the context of the game. I would recommend reviewing these for errors at least a couple times before doing the work of putting them into the card templates.

50 FrogPrince自分の一番手が水の属性なら無条件でゲームに勝利。If you have a Water Attribute card in first position, you unconditionally win the game.★このカードは特殊ルールのみの切り札カードです。山札に入れられるのは一枚だけ。使用後は山札に戻せません。This card trumps other card’s special rules.You may only have one in your deck. Do not return to your deck after use.

51 Sonja自分の一番手が緑の属性なら無条件でゲームに勝利。If you have a Green Attribute card in first position, you unconditionally win the game.

52 Golem自分の一番手が黄色の属性なら無条件でゲームに勝利。If you have a Yellow Attribute card in first position, you unconditionally win the game.

53 Unicorn自分の一番手が白の属性なら無条件でゲームに勝利。If you have a White Attribute card in first position, you unconditionally win the game.

54 MotherShip自分の一番手が黒の属性なら無条件でゲームに勝利。If you have a Black Attribute card in first position, you unconditionally win the game.

55 RedWolf自分の一番手が赤の属性なら無条件でゲームに勝利。If you have a Red Attribute card in first position, you unconditionally win the game.

56 Serge, Kid, Lynxカードタイトルにある名前の一番手を＋２００アップ。Add 200 to a first-position card whose character appears in the name of this card.

57 Kid, Lynxカードタイトルにある名前の一番手を＋２００アップ。Add 200 to a first-position card whose character appears in the name of this card.

58 Serge海でリフレッシュ！相手の特殊ルールの効果を無効にする。Get re-energized by the sea! Cancel out the effect of an opponent’s Special Rule.

59 Leah, Serge, Orchaカードタイトル名と同じ相手の一番手をー１５０ダウン。Minus 150 from an opponent’s first-position card featuring a character that appears in the name of this card.

60 Kid, Sergeカードタイトル名と同じ自分の一番手を＋１５０アップ。Add 150 to a first-position card of yours featuring a character that appears in the name of this card.

Yasunori Mitsuda commented on each track; his words have been translated by Ongakusei, and posted at Chudah's Corner. Ongakusei has graciously allowed us to display the notes here; these are the absolute best available.

Still Green Around the gills

Seems it's been nearly 10 years since I started really coming to grips with my "musical job" (including my days of training). When I think about it carefully, it now seems I was charging on with no thought to consequence. And I'll probably keep doing the same thing... until I die... (laughs). Back in my days of youth, I often thought, "I'm working hard but...why does no one acknowledge it?" and flared up at various people for that. Considering it now, I realize that the production process is not important to others; what matters is the result, the meaning the listener gets out of my work. But at that time, I was too young to realize this. Even now, my immaturity hasn't changed, but I do feel that the real value for me is not in being recognized for my hard work, but in the emotions my music stirs in people. So perhaps I have grown a bit. Were you all moved to cry just once in this game?

Only Death Stops Learning

People keep learning until they die. My father always used to say that. For someone like me who hated studying, I really resisted this (laughs).

But recently I've come to think that it's not "studying" he was talking about, so much as "internalization". The world is full of fashion trends, but most people don't seriously question why something becomes fashionable, and simply submit to the vogue of the day. I'm the kind of person who isn't satisfied when something doesn't pass through my internal filter, so if something's concerning me, I always analyze it and attempt to digest it. So I finally arrived at an understanding of what my dad meant when he said "study".

I had no thought of writing "fashionable" music, and I realized that my awareness of this destiny, which finally passed through my internal filter, was directly tied to my personality, so I can't ignore that one really does "keep learning until they die". Heh. I'm trying, dad. (laughs).

The Power of Sound

Sound has a mysterious power. A power greater than anything you can say with words. I think that no matter how good a piece of music may be, if it isn't expressed with the right sound, it has no meaning. A composer saying that sounds don't matter is the same as him saying that he has no love for his own music. There are so many colors in sounds.

By way of understanding this, you'll notice that most of this soundtrack is built on a "guitar sound". Of course, it can't compete with the sound of a real guitar, but to enable people to perceive this atmosphere, I tried to use the "nerve" of the guitar to the maximum extent possible (does that make sense?). In pursuit of this, synthesizer programmer Ryo Yamazaki supported me without giving up to the very end. I cannot thank him enough.

If even a bit of the emotion this music possesses reaches you, you could say it's because of the power of his sounds.

The Power of All

Not just in this project, but always, producing game music requires the total commitment of everyone involved.

For example, to accommodate the slow disc loading speed, sound memory was reduced, so even if someone on the production level wanted to do something, the programmers frequently had to nix it. If I can only do half of what I envisage, I'm satisfied.

In the sound for this project, thanks to the combined efforts of the main programmer, the battle programmer, and many many others, we were able to overcome things I thought were physically impossible and finally arrive at this point. I would like to emphasize that the music echoing from these CDs is built on the power of all these people.

Folk Music Continues Onwards

I tried to apply a Mediterranean sound to all of this music, experimenting with Fado guitar type sounds.

I have a strong sense of Fado style as being represented by deeply expressive lyrics and minor-key music. But for a challenge, I tried to make my overall theme as writing music that could penetrate to the depths of one's heart with a bright, major-key sound.

In addition, as I've recently been studying African percussion, I made use of the rhythms of Africa, and the sounds of the ancient music of various lands like Finland, China, Mongolia and Greece. Of course, my Irish sound is also doing well...(laughs).

When I listen to this collection of music, the one thing I admire is that I'm able to achieve a well organized form out of seemingly disparate sounds. Could that be my greatest accomplishment!?...probably. (laughs).

From here on, in order to deliver more of that enjoyable yet mysterious Mitsuda sound, I'm really going to crack the whip on myself. Please have fun and wait for it.

Disc 1 ~ Awakening

Chrono Cross - Scars of Time -

The music adorning the opening of Chrono Cross. I think you can really sense how high the level of the musicians was. During the recording, new ideas constantly came to me and were quickly incorporated. The ambiguity of what the lead instrument is makes for a high tension piece. The mixing was extremely difficult. I thought the sound produced by laying a Gran Cassa (a huge drum) on its side and hitting it with brush sticks was very interesting.

Deadline

I think there is one version of this with voices and one without, but I included the version with voices on the CD. I don't like the standard orchestral style very much, so I tried emphasizing the percussion. I really am such a contrarian (laughs).

Aruni Village ~ Home

All the "first town" themes I'd written to this point were very sunny and bright, so this time I tried to make something with a calmer atmosphere. I thought Fado guitar style music would be great for this town, but Fado music typically has a dark, sorrowful image. So I thought, if I tried writing a bright, peaceful song with a Fado guitar, what kind of music would it turn out to be? Well, maybe in that case it's not really Fado...(laughs)

The Field of Time ~ Home World

Oh! Where have we heard this melody before? That's right, I rearranged the main theme from Chrono Trigger. But since a simple rearrangement wouldn't be interesting, I started with the "C" melody section. So it takes a while before you realize it's from Chrono Trigger. Somehow, the sound of sitar seems to go well with Chrono.

Dance with the Lizards

The strange piece from the first dungeon in the game. I don't think there are many people who would use the hammered dulcimer in a shuffle tune. And since the Angklung (an Indonesian instrument) is rarely heard in games, I tried playing it faintly in the background. It's nice having a dungeon that reminds you of good weather, isn't it? (laughs)

Reminiscing ~ Enduring Memories

I wanted to bring out the sense of a memory both nostalgic and painful on solo piano. I'm not a very good pianist, but I was able to play the whole thing with only a few later corrections (for Playstation playback). I played it over and over again until it had the right emotion, so even though it's simple, you can feel the love right!? (laughs)

On the Shore of Dreams ~ Another World

Those who know will recognize this as the main theme of Radical Dreamers. The use of the themes from Chrono Trigger and Radical Dreamers for "Home" and "Another World" was the idea of Masato Kato, the director. I'm glad this theme didn't wind up being forever unknown.

Aruni Village ~ Another

Aruni Village Another gives you the sense of non-existence that comes from pure emptiness. So I arranged Aruni Village Home with a feeling of emptiness as the theme for this piece. The desolate sound of piano and guitar fit this village well.

Transient Thoughts

This is another simple piece, using only electric piano and clarinet, but it's full of Lena's thoughts for Serge. Love is by no means a major theme of this game, but working in the common thoughts one feels towards the opposite sex in every day life was terribly hard.

Lost Fragments

A guitar and cello version of the Chrono Cross opening theme. I tried to approximate Kira-san's phrasing in my sequencing of his guitar part. I was really worried it wouldn't work out.

Drowned Valley

I was trying to create a medieval-style melody featuring two recorders, and before I knew it, the piece had wound up in 5/8 meter. (laughs). I suppose when you compose from a melody, rather than consciously try to create an odd metered piece, the result sounds very natural.

Telmina ~ Another

Yup, here it is! This is my 18th festive song with a 6/8 beat. This time, I tried arranging it with a Scottish feel. However, it sounds just like the Guardia Millennial Fair from Chrono Trigger! (laughs). . . Well, you've got to have at least one of this kind of piece, you know.

Departed Souls

I wish I could have expressed the heroism of the Dragon Knights even more emphatically in the second half of this piece. The sense of harmony one perceives in the sound of the Shakuhachi and the Shinobue would have worked well here, but synthesized emulations cannot capture the particular essence of the actual instruments, so I didn't want to use them. And this is how the piece turned out. But I wonder if there wasn't a better solution?

Forest of Shadows

One of my favorite genres of music is minimalism; repeating the same motif over and over produces such a nice sensation. I don't know how many times I dozed off while writing this song. . . Did you all fall asleep while listening to this in the game too?

Jakotsu Mansion

We had extra memory here, so synthesizer programmer Ryo Yamazaki and I thought "what would be a really interesting sound to put in here?", and wound up putting in this really cool sound. We still laugh about it and think "how stupid".

Victory ~ Gifts of Spring

This is the same fanfare from Chrono Trigger, arranged for orchestra. Personally, I didn't like using fanfares, but when I put this one in, it gave it the flavor of an old-school RPG. I think this game has a real sense of the theatrical.

A Child Lost in Time

I'm particularly fond of the sound of the cello and the pizzicato phrases in the second half of this piece. Does it cause you a sense of unease? Personally it just makes me laugh...this one's stupid too. (laughs).

Galdorf ~ Another

When you move back and forth between the dimensions in this game, the "Home" and "Another" towns each have their own versions of their themes. But sometimes you lose track of which dimension you're in, probably because of the different arrangements. But personally, I thought the effect of losing track of where you are was kind of interesting...

Hydra Swamp

I broadly synchronized this to the movements of the dwarves. If the timing's right, it should look like the dwarves are dancing. I hope, anyway... This map had both a sense of pop and a sense of mystery, so it was tough trying to attend to both of those elements.

Pieces of Dreams

You may have noticed already, but in one of Kato-san's projects, you always have to have a music box theme. I really think that even though the music box is very simple, it's a strange instrument (or is it a machine?) capable of powerfully affecting musical expression.

Sailing ~ Another World

The kind of music I'd like to hear while lazily sailing around on a boat. At first glance (or is that first listen?) it sounds perfectly natural, but the form and chord changes make it a good but kind of strange piece. In musical terms, it changes key rapidly via a II-V progression until the harmony comes full circle and arrives back at the original key. So it's a mischievous piece.

Phantom Ship

No matter what, when I hear the sound of a Vibra Slap, I think of Saburo Kitajima's song "Yosaku". I was conscious of this when I used the sound and tried to slip past that image so the listener wouldn't make the association but...it was no good (laughs). This piece really makes you realize the impact of "Yosaku".

Death Volcano

After a fretless bass intro, an African beat fades in slowly. After that, the development changes up and the Uillean Pipes of Ireland and distinctive Udo percussion come in. There are instruments from all over the world in this piece.

Ancient Dragon's Fort

I had to rearrange this piece 2 or 3 times before I was satisfied with it. At first, it was a progressive rock piece that sounded like the Italian band Goblin, but as I rearranged it, it took on a completely different feel. If I had more space on the staff paper, I would have written a long 20-minute track (laughs).

Grief

Please listen to Mitose's "demonic wails" (laughs). The track lasts only a few seconds, but it produced a very frightening effect when synched with the video. This sort of thing is the most interesting aspect of writing music for images. I tripled each of Mitose's 6 parts to make an 18 voice choir altogether. (In fact I wanted to include even more...) You keened very nicely for me, Mitose-san, thank you.

Disc 2 ~ Acceptance'

Beginning of a Dream

This was composed for Square's internal presentation, not used in the game itself. But I figured only a few people had heard it and I'd gone to the trouble of writing it, so I should include the full version here. This was my first image of Chrono Cross. It truly sounds like the sea.

The Bend of Time

I had a pressing urge to compose this, and finished it in 2 hours. (laughs) Some strong inspiration must have hit me. If it was like this all the time, I could finish a whole soundtrack in 10 days (laughs).

Telmina ~ Home

The way I handled the music for Telmina was special, so strictly speaking I would call this the theme music for events that occur in Telmina. I also based this on ancient music, while preserving something of the feel of a festival.

Dragon Knights

This is so-called pop orchestra (laughs). This type of feel brings out the knights' bravery and pride. Yamazaki-san re-recorded this numerous times to get the brass sound right.

Sailing ~ Home World

I sampled a distortion guitar very meticulously, so the sound actually approached the quality of the real thing. I wanted this one to be very fast paced.

Galdorf ~ Home

I composed this piece early on in the production, and so thought of using it for Aruni village, but I switched it over to Galdorf instead, which it fit very well. I put a guitar tremolo in midway through, but I declined to even try to play it on a real guitar. I really wish I was better at guitar...

Marbule ~ Home

I composed this with medieval music in mind. Because ancient instruments have so many limitations, it was difficult to write this as if it could have been genuinely performed, but I wonder if it wouldn't be possible afterall...If I ever do an ancient music arranged album, I'd like to take a shot at it.

Zelbess

In this comfortable, pleasurable town of paradise, you learn an important lesson about how to live your life. Enjoying yourself is important, but as a human, so is experiencing hardship. This town teaches you how to best find that balance (laughs).

The Great Sneff's Troupe

Somehow when I hear the word "magic", I think of China, but why? Is it only me? I like how this track messes with my mind. (laughs)

Bed Time

OK everyone, let's sleep. 1. .2. .3. . zzzz...

Chronomantique

This is my cheap attempt at a reggae version of Chrono Trigger (laughs). It's only heard briefly in the game, but it's a pretty long track (for game music). In arranging it, it really turned into a different piece of music. This piece makes me think I need to study up on arranging a lot more.

Predicament

Just like with "Jakotsu Mansion", we had extra memory for this track, so I wondered if I couldn't do something with voices, and added in the exclamation "Zon!" with a male voice. It changed the character of the music, but I thought it was interesting. Do you get a sense of climbing up a cliff?

Optimism

Somehow optimistic, but also a bit funky. It develops into a very sweet arrangement in the second half, but the first half is so cheerful it makes me laugh. There sure are a lot of tracks that make me laugh in this game...

Island of Departed Souls

This was a dungeon theme I really felt compelled to write. I thought the flute keening that comes in midway through made a big impact; I liked that a lot. I also thought the Ring Rhythm (my own term) percussion came off great (laughs). To explain, "Ring Rhythm" creates the effect of revolving percussion through speaker positioning. I was able to put minimalism and polyrhythm to use. If the piece was just rotating percussion, it wouldn't have been much.

Dead Sea / Ruined Tower

The sound of the clarinet was very troubling to me here. A particular problem with the Playstation hardware is that reverb breaks up the sound to which it's applied, and since there were very few tracks in this piece, it was extremely noticeable. On top of that, the volume was very low and out of balance with the other pieces, so it was a really bad situation. Thanks to Yamazaki-san, the issue was skillfully solved.

Prisoners of Fate

The heart-wrenching scene of the fateful battle with Migel (Lena's father). When I heard this song during the battle, my hands faltered in inputting the commands. In any case, I used the emotion of this scene to shape the chord progressions and string arrangement. So sad, so sad...

A Light for Lost Hopes

This was the first track to be programmed into the game. The theme of this one was a "guitar sound", and I wrote it while checking the memory. This piece was very important in determining the overall sound for the game. Even so, they only used it as the game over message theme, so this game does have its poisons. (laughs)

Earth Dragon's Island

I think this piece really dealt with the concept of atmosphere well. The sense of transparency matched up to the images nicely and really expressed a sensation of space, despite the music's simplicity. Somehow it turned out really well, but it was just as much thanks to Yamazaki-san's power as mine. (laughs)

Navel of the World

Percussion was the focus here, and produced a very fast-paced mood. Even though the scene it's used in has a very laid-back feel, it matched up unexpectedly well. There were so many tracks in this one, mixing it was a real trial.

Hurricane

The abundant use of polyrhythm created a battle theme unlike anything else. Mixing 9/8, 3/4 and 4/4 meters together in the climax, then throwing 5/4 in as well, resulted in something completely crazy. I call this "Radical Traditional" (laughs).

Victory ~ Shouts of Summer

This trackname was thought up by Kato-san, and what a great title it is. It's the "Shouts of Summer"! I've never seen a jingle tune with such a great title before (laughs). It ties in so well with "Gifts of Spring"(laughs).

Marbule ~ Another

I arranged the Marbule theme in so many different ways, I wasn't really sure which one was the "original", but this was the first version. It's really simple, isn't it. I wanted to use instruments of the thinnest possible sound, as it's always a task of mine to make my music as clear as possible.

The Fairy's Magic

This is the "model" of this tune for the important scene where the dancer Miki teaches Slash about music and the joys of life. At first I just used the sound of Slash's guitar for this, but it was much too floaty, so I made up this version very quickly.

Etude 1

Kigoshi-san, who came up with this event, told me "Slash does know his way around a guitar, so rather than having him play wrong notes at the start, please show his development through the 'soul' he puts into the music", so that's what I had to do. (It was really hard!) I wonder if you can really tell the difference?

Etude 2

I think this has more "soul" than Etude 1 but...what do you think? I'm sorry if I didn't really get it.

Magical Dreamers ~ Wind, Stars, and Waves

As I listened to Etude 2 more, I decided it did sound like a satisfying performance, but for me, this version has the most "soul", so I decided to use this take. The Mike Oldfield-style guitar in the second half really enhanced the medieval quality of the melody and gave the whole thing a very unique flavor, I thought...

Disc 3 ~ Return

Garden of the Gods

I had planned to use a boys' choir only in the "Garden of the Gods" sequence, but it was used right in the opening. But to recreate the originally intended track sequencing, I put it on the CD here. It's perfect for the start of disc 3. And now, the surging waves of high-tension music begin...

Chronopolis

I created this track using the chord progression from "Chrono Trigger" over a techno rhythm. You might think this one track is far removed from the general image of Chrono Cross, but I really think this kind of music has a place in Chrono. Perhaps those who have played Chrono Trigger will understand.

FATE ~ God of Destiny

Once again, a progressive tune. I particularly like the 4 measures in the middle where the organ and bass take over. This was the very last piece I composed for this game; incidentally, in Chrono Trigger, the 2nd boss battle theme was also the last one I composed. Somehow, the two situations wound up being the same. How strange...(laughs).

Jellyfish Sea

This is an ambient style piece. The transparent sound of the fretless bass and piano really evoke the impression of being deep underwater. If I'm picking my top 5 pieces from the soundtrack, this is one of them. Just like with "Forest of Shadows", I kept falling asleep while listening to this (laughs).

Orphanage Fire

When I tried combining a female Gregorian chant chorus and a male operatic chorus, this was the result. I really love the sudden modulation just before the final chord loops back to the beginning. Hearing this music should make you want to swear vengeance against Yamaneko. Yamanekooooooooooo!

The Girl who Stole the Stars

Hidden within Kid's tough exterior is a kind heart, and this piece portrays that side of her. Noriko Mitose's "lan, la, la, lan" scat suited Kid's image perfectly. She was personally one of my favorite characters in the game.

Dreams of Time

This was the music for the demo version's trailer, but I made some slight alterations here. It tries to sum up the essence of the whole game by including the themes from Chrono Trigger and Radical Dreamers. The perfect music for quickly giving a sense of the game's content from a storefront demo.

Dragon's Prayer

Jerry Goldsmith is one of my favorite composers, and I challenged myself to somehow absorb his unique sense of development and orchestration for this track. But...I'm at a loss for words. (laughs). I still need to study how to write various styles of music...

Star Tower

At first, there may appear to be nothing unusual about this track, but the Yoik vocals that slowly fade in and out give it a real sense of the macabre. This piece serves to remind you that you're getting closer and closer to the end. Did everyone's heart start to pound?

Frozen Flame

This piece was used in Radical Dreamers, but here it paints the beauty of the frozen flame, and describes the pattern of human misery that surrounds the gem. The music sounds normal on the surface, but I believe it actually presents a parade of key changes. I don't really remember how I composed this one (laughs).

Dragon God

This piece makes use of Yoik vocals and string quartet, on top of which I added a sizeable amount of percussion. To better frame the introductory Yoik vocal, I kept the strings and brass arrangements in the middle simple. I tried playing this battle before there was any music, and thought "what an easy going last boss", but when I put the music in, it became an incredibly up-tempo battle.

Life ~ Faraway Promise

In this piece, sound effects gradually synchronize into music, but it can't really be explained without the images. I had goosebumps for days after I first saw this scene. I suppose there are people who've bought this CD without playing the game, but if you get a chance, you should really hear this one song with the visuals.

Reminiscing ~ Enduring Memories

This piece is heard at the beginning, but also appears at the end of the story, as the keyword "enduring memories" for the 2 people. Which were the most important memories to Serge? And what was the meaning of that photograph...?

Radical Dreamers ~ Unstealable Gem

Kira's piquant guitar and Mitose's beautiful voice matched so well in this song. Initially, I twice thought about adding strings to the song, but it promised to sound too conventional, so I dared myself to stick only to vocal and guitar to the very end. It took a real act of courage to bring such a simple song for the ending theme. The difficulty of pulling off a song with so few parts is really felt keenly here. If the song truly is persuasive enough, I would consider that a great success. Noriko Mitose's lyrics are wonderful too, so please reflect on them while you listen.

Fragment of Dreams

Listening to this tune will surely put you into a peaceful state of mind. (laughs). After I finished watching the ending, I just sat there for awhile, listening to this music. Quietly close your eyes, and think back on the many adventures you had in the game.

“Eh, listen here now, have you seen it? They say it’s some kind of next-generation thingamajig.”

“Saaaay, Ayumi, um, whadza a next-generation machine?”

The world is aflutter with talk of the coming next-generation machines, from the gossipy old ladies to kindergartners. The evolution of hardware sure is amazing. It has brought about the birth of computers! Now that’s something there, computers.

But, why do you suppose everybody is trying to get their hands on the latest hardware? There was nothing wrong with the good ol’ days, when a simple square bounced left and right across a black and white screen was all the fun you needed. So how about the transformation that has taken place in a mere 20 years? Where did the game systems of yesteryear get off to? What people are looking for in the new hardware isn’t improved calculating power or faster processing; people only want better graphics and sound!

And I suppose there is a pretty sizable gap between the current systems and the next-gen systems. But, wait, hold on! You can’t just go racing off down the pass! Just like a student driver has to spend some time practicing driving around with a sign on their car, we need time to develop our computer skills, too. After all, which do you figure is faster, a student driver in a sports car, or an F1 driver in a sedan?

Well, that introduction ran a little long. Anyway, Chrono Cross is in some ways a continuation of Chrono Trigger and in other ways it is not.

It has been five years since Chrono Trigger. Modern game systems have dramatically improved in every way imaginable; their hardly even comparable to the systems of just a few years ago. The F1 drivers working on Chrono Trigger wanted to create a game that would push the limits of the current generation of consoles so far that it would even be able to stand up to even next generation games. That was the starting point for the Chrono Trigger development team.

The anti-Square people out there often go around proclaiming, “The only reason Square can make a game like that is because they tossed a ton of money at the project!” Well, it simply won’t do to have people go around spewing out nonsense. No matter how much money you put out there, if you don’t have talented and passionate workers you will never be able to make a game like Chrono Cross. The truth is that without putting out loads of money and whatnot every single character that appears in Chrono Cross was modeled by just people. The monster design was done by only one guy. Sure, he cried the whole time, but he did it! And of course, poor Yasunori was able write every song, arrange the score and digitize the effects all by his lonesome.

And so we finally come to the topic of music. What are these crazy sounds?! Back in the day, game music was just blips and beeps. Do you think that you could imitate the sounds of Chrono Cross even today? Fat chance. You can even hear the fingers gliding across the strings of the guitar; that kind of attention to detail is pure genius, enough to make you swoon. And, as I’m sure people who have already played the game are well aware, the people in the graphics department are no slouches either, filling the game with unbelievably refined visuals. Hmm, I wonder what kind of craziness Yasunori and his pals are working on now. Those guys are true game maniac: They don’t know how to give less than a 100 percent.

So here’s how I’m looking at it today. Even with today’s technology, as long as you have a team of driven, dedicated and passionate people, you can make an astonishingly good game. Heck, who needs this “next generation machine!”

So, the time has come to bring an end to another – albeit enjoyable – ordeal. What sort of story should I do next? In any case, I should give a few words to commemorate the release of Chrono Cross.

It’s already been four years since Chrono Trigger came into the world. During that time I’ve worked on such games as Radical Dreamers, Final Fantasy VII and Xenogears. Perhaps through these games you and I have come into contact, then parted ways again.

So why is it Cross this time? If we’re talking about the progression from Trigger to Cross, I have to touch on Radical first.

Radical was a game somewhat like an independent film that I put together with a few colleagues in the short space of about three months. At first I didn’t intend for it to be like that, but before I knew it, it had become the continuing story of a sub character from Trigger. I guess I wanted to take anything I wasn’t able to explore in full in Trigger, show what happened to those characters and properly tie up the loose ends.

However, after being plagued by deadlines and working at it day and night without much success, production of Radical had to be halted in its half-finished state. …Well, these things happen.

After that the months and years rolled by… Xenogears made slow progress, but was eventually finished, and when I was asked what kind of story we should do next, I heard Kid’s voice echo from within me. “My fight’s not over yet!”
Thus those reckless Radical Dreamers once more took the stage…

In the beginning, there was Chrono Trigger.

But, like I mentioned earlier, since then a fair amount of time has passed, and the hardware we work with is also different. We’re not so weak nor cheap as to try to make something exactly the same as Trigger. What we were aiming for was a new kind of fun for a new console, while still maintaining the feel and atmosphere of Trigger…

As before we started on a trial and error basis, and welcomed days filled with both joy and despair. And right in the middle of all that were Kid and Serge…
Accordingly, Chrono Cross is not Chrono Trigger 2. It doesn’t simply follow on from Trigger, but is another, different Chrono that interlaces with Trigger. When you see the ending you’ll probably understand what I mean…

My desire is that Chrono Cross will see the conclusion of the battle that started in Trigger and continued in Radical. And that people who do and don’t know Chrono, who do and don’t know Kid, can all enjoy this game.
That’s right, because the stars’ dream isn’t over yet…

Well, I guess that’s it… When I think about it, is there anything else I can add? People who aren’t interested won’t take note anyway.

That said, I am definitely satisfied that while this is the Chrono we all know, we were also able to give birth to a new kind of Chrono in this form.

At the start of Autumn when development entered its final stages, I would sometimes get bogged down, feeling that somehow while everyone else was chasing up fine-tuning and debugging, I was the only one laboriously working on event data…

One of those times, I took a ride on my motorcycle,

“Ah, I can feel the wing beats of my dreams…”

That’s what I suddenly found myself thinking.

What kind of dreams will take flight from your hands?

I hope that you, too, are a Radical Dreamer…

That’s right, because our dream isn’t over yet.

Ryo Yamazaki

Have any of you ever wondered while hearing the music in a game whether it's running off CD or being produced by the PlayStation sound chip? A lot of people might say "Well if the music's good, it doesn't matter", but for us who handle sound it's a big problem. Compared to recording the music, the process of cramming all the sounds into the hardware's available memory requires a lot more time and labor. When I work with outside creators who have no experience dealing with chip generated sound, they're generally dumbfounded by the hopeless hardware specs.

Because of that, a lot of creators who have to compose chip music give up or delegate the work out, but working with Mitsuda on this project, I never saw a trace of that disappointing attitude. Rather, he took the attitude that chip generated music was a challenge to be faced, and I felt incredible sympathy for him for that.

I did at times think it somewhat reckless to attempt to express some humanity through mechanical, computerized performances, but I was also just as often encouraged by Mitsuda's enthusiasm and insistence on communicating exactly what he wanted to convey through his music.

Afterall, achieving sound of this quality through the internal sound module may be due to no more than the ego of the developers, or else part of a process that gets left behind as hardware evolves. But no matter when or on what hardware, I would like for creators never to forget the history of conflict that arose in attempting to communicate something with all one's skill.

If listening to this soundtrack, permeated as it is with our obsessions, brings you to ponder even briefly your viewpoint on this thing called game music, it would be an honor.

This time around we got Mitose-san to provide the vocals for the game’s ending song. Thank you so, so much for the great work; you must be quite exhausted after working on such a lengthy project.

Noriko Mitose

What do you mean? It was great fun, you know, being attacked by alternating waves of anxiety and laughter (laughs). I got to watch the game progress while I worked, so the long production time actually worked out better for me, as I grew quite fond of Cross.

Mitsuda

We started off by passing you the demo tape and for you to write lyrics to… and then, as the three of us— you, the director Kato-san and I—kept making changes as we went, the song itself had turned into something quite different … Didn’t you ever wonder “What is this guy trying to do”? (laughs)

Mitose

It had really changed a lot, didn’t it! But I enjoyed watching the song get better in the process. Mitsuda-san and Kato-san both do not accept compromises, so whenever the three of us would listen to the song together, someone would always have something to say: “no, this bit shouldn’t be like that…”.

Mitsuda
It’s like if you please one, you can’t please the other… There’s never any end to it, though. Just like with drawing, deciding when you’ve got the best possible version is the hardest thing to do. By the way, remember when the lyrics were just completed? I got you and Kato-san both to come over to my house and sing a draft of the vocals… in that ridiculously tiny booth! (laughs)

Mitose

Aaah, the incubation tank!! (huge laugh) It’s a cramped, glass-walled booth lit up by incandescent bulbs of all things, so sometimes when I sang in there I’d feel like whooo, I was floating off to some faraway place. (laughs) Thanks to that, though, I received quite a bit of inspiration and developed a deeper bond with the lyrics and music. We were on quite a high, weren’t we, staying up till late at night hemming and hawing.

Mitsuda

I think because we had the benefit of preparation, the song turned out much better than I ever imagined, but what about you, Mitose-san? Are you satisfied with your performance?

Mitose

My performance… performance… oh, but the song does go so well played over the ending screen…

Mitsuda

What kind of an answer is thaaat?! (laughs) Yeah, alright, leaving that aside… This time you did the lyrics to the song as well. What did you pay the most attention to when writing them?

Mitose

Well, you know how the game world in Cross is a continuation from Trigger. So for people who’ve played Trigger, that world already exists inside them, right? Even though it doesn’t feature that much in Cross directly, I wanted to preserve those hidden ties. Also, Kato-san’s script and choice of words have a very unique kind of power. I thought I’d try writing the lyrics so that they seamlessly complement that power. Kato-san helped me with revising the lyrics on numerous occasions, so I think they turned out well. And the music also links back to Trigger and Radical Dreamers.

Mitsuda

That’s right. I was very particular about the score myself. I was worried about how I was going to connect all the musical themes with the story… Uhh, well, it’s like first loves (laughs)—you know how if you don’t see them for a few years, all you remember about them are the good things? Well, in the same way, people who’ve enjoyed Trigger have built up particular impressions of the game world which would have expanded over time. And I think this might have made the four years since Trigger a real headache for the whole production team, not just the music guys. It means we have to, at the very least, start off one level above the well-regarded Trigger. So in that sense, I think this was a rough journey. We had to change the melody and chorus numerous times, even at the recording stage, modify the lyrics because of problems with pronunciation, and so on. At any rate, I felt—in more ways than one—that we really tried out some things I’ve rarely experienced before while recording. Any new discoveries on your end, Mitose-san?

Mitose

Well, I often create songs by changing the music and words with the composer as we go along, so (it’s nothing new). After all, a vocal piece is only ever complete with music, words and song, and you know, I really want to make all three elements work well with each other. I might have felt particularly strongly about that this time, though… Everyone from Mitsuda-san onwards had this amazing unitedness about them. Between the music, words and vocals, I feel like did discover some something even more cohesive and closely connected. Is this way of doing things uncommon for you, Mitsuda-san?

Mitsuda

Yeah, it kinda is… Most game soundtracks are basically instrumental pieces, all of which I usually take care of myself. So going into the studio to fix things like lyrics doesn’t reeaally happen very often. I’d almost always come up with the instrumentation in the studio, though.

Mitose

When it’s time to do the recording, you don’t budge at all either, I’ve noticed. Also, even though you do have such a clear vision of how things should go, when you record a take and it sounds good, even if it’s not what you expected, you still have the flexibility to okay it. I thought that was pretty impressive.

Mitsuda

What! Really? Flexible, huh… I haven’t really thought about that much (laughs). Well, I guess to me, as long as the basic feel of the composition stays the same anything goes; if it sounds interesting, why not?... or something like that! By the way, changing the subject here, but I’ve heard that kirche started off as a copy of Zabadak. So what went through your mind when you heard that Zabadak’s own Kira-san was going to do the guitar? It must have made you nervous, right?

Mitose

I was just… I didn’t know what to say… (lost in recollection)

Mitsuda

Yeah, I remember you sounded really, really stiff on the first take. Man, you know, I really should have included that take as a bonus track on the album… (laughs) Heh heh heh…

Mitose

Noooooooo! You can’t! (screams) Wait, you’re… you’re not telling me you still have a copy, right…? You did erase it, right…?

Mitsuda

Nyah! Worry not, for I have it safely secured in my vaults. If you ever want a listen, I’m always happy to loan it out (laughs). Oh, and yeah, aside from the ending song, you also seemed to have great fun singing with all the “weird” in-game voices – so, am I right in guessing that you like weird-sounding voices?

Mitose

I love them! (excitedly) Kato-san called them “shrieks of the she-devil”, though (laughs). Bulgarian choral singing, joiks, that sort of… alternative? Primitive? style of singing—I just love it. I wish I could’ve done more of it. Your compositions somehow seem to run in the same vein. And since you were guessing just there, you must be fan of too, I suppose? Of weird voices?

Mitsuda

I love weird voices. Oh god, people are going to think I’m such a weirdo for saying that. My favourite would probably have to be Bulgarian choral singing. It’s like there’s bits of rough among the smooth… on the other hand, if it’s supposed to be typically “clear” singing, unless it’s really clear and beautiful I’m probably not going to like it, to a rather frightening extent even… Don’t you ever do that sort of [rough] singing with your band?

Mitose

I’d really like to… I really do. Don’t you ever do live performances, or play in bands?

Mitsuda

Bands! Mmm… I do like playing on instruments, but I’m not much good and I’ve got an extreme case of stage fright to boot, so… (laughs) It does sound like fun though, so I have been working out some plans here and there. Not that I know when I’ll go ahead with any of them…

Alright then, on a final note, could you briefly introduce your band, and then we’ll round it all off with any messages you have for the people who listened to this track, what plans you have for the future, or whatever else you want to say. All yours!

Mitose

My band is called kirche, and I’m the main singer and lyricist. It’s the spiritual descendent of this (?) sort of music. To all you gamers, I hope you’ve enjoyed playing Chrono Cross! To everyone on the production team, it was a great pleasure working with you, and thank you so much for your hard work. I know it’s hard to pay attention to the background music when you’ve got battles and dialogue to focus on, so whether you’re one of those who managed to listen to all the pieces while playing the game, or you’re one of those who couldn’t do so, please enjoy listening to this CD at your own pace. And I hope we’ll meet again.

Mitsuda

And to end it all off, Mitose-san, thank you very much for joining us. Until next time!

I liked to draw. At that time, I liked comics more than animation so I bought books such as "how to draw comics" and I drew randomly. I never thought of making a living drawing (laughs). I always thought that I should get a proper job because we were a fatherless family and I was the first son. I couldn't say that I wanted to be a caricaturist with no secure tomorrow.

So is that how you became a government employee first?

Yes. I did become a review administrator at the National Health Insurance office (Laughs). I did it for about two and half years.

Then, how did you manage to get into this field?

When I was a student, I drew my own comics and I was crazy about animation—especially the "Yamato" and "Gundam" series. So I still had feelings for that field even after I got the job. Even though I was working in a totally unrelated field, my feeling for animation still grew (laughs). I started hanging out at an animation studio after I got out into the real world. I became close friends with animators under the pretense of doing a part-time job there. I was told that if I like it that much I should just do it. They said that life is short and they pushed me to follow my interests. If I had continued being a government employee, I wouldn't have succeeded (laughs).

You made a big decision.

Of course, I had hesitation. I was in my early 20s at that time, so I promised my mother that I'd quit if I couldn't succeed by age 25. After that, I brought my pictures in person to the closest animation studio. The studio was called "Art Land" (makers of "Macross"), and by chance, I was told just one word—"Ok"—by Mr. Noboru Ishiguro, who was a director of "Macross". It opened the doors for me, so I gave my old job my notice of leaving. I brought pictures daily to Mr. Ishiguro until I retired. He checked it every time, like homework.

What kind of influence did working on anime have on you?

There was no particular influence, but there were many shocks. In my case, I got into the animation world without much effort. Soon after, I was able to do original works. Everything was going very well. I guess that is why I was conceited. It was like "Hey, I'm really cool!" (laughs) But I got shocked so much when I did the movie "Macross" (NOTE ONE). People who worked in different studios gathered together and it was like a movie exclusive team for Tatsunoko Production. There were so many people who became popular later on, such as Mr. Anno (NOTE TWO). To think about it now, it was an incredible environment inside that studio. The place was occupied by so much talent, and they seemed like incredible geniuses. I was so shocked that I felt like a microbe. Mr. Anno and I are almost same age. I can never really forget that feeling of being impressed and inadequate at the same time.

Did you use any reference on the technique aspect of your work?

I think that I have been influenced by American comics. I had several opportunities to go to America for jobs (NOTE 3), and I read and reread the local American comics. However the major comics were not my type. I was like "what the hell was 'BACOOOON!'" (laughs). But there were new tides in America at that time. Batman was becoming a superhuman stereotype, but suddenly there were now human stories, such as one featuring an elderly Batman. The touch was also different compared to American comics that I knew. I think I was triggered by those new tides of American comics. I had studied about muscles on my own and I wanted to use it in my drawings somehow. So I think that my touch and the way I express my work nowadays stemmed from my trial-and-error designs in that period.

What do you do first when you start on your design?

I first start with a mental image. If I can't picture what I want to do with, it can't be in my work.

How did you fee about "Chrono Cross"?

In my case, I had done "Seiken" (NOTE 5) before, so I had a strong image of my work with Square. That is why we argued at the beginning of the design process. I wanted the head and body of characters to be lower. But through the discussion, I realized that the alternative might be all right in a game, even if it looked weird in animation. In my case, I think every little detail in animation through thoroughly. For example, if I draw a belt, I consider the culture and technological progress of the period, and then design. With a belt, it's like I envision the technology level of metalworking in my mind.

I see. Well, its a game that intermingles a machine feeling in one hand and ethnic atmosphere in the other hand.

Yes, those concerns initially were on my mind, because I don't know how to design chains in a world that has cyborg technologies (laughs). But after all, I thought that excessive direction was necessary in a game with such an enticing vision. In a game, we go on an adventure in a world which is limited. For example, if you choose a certain culture for the game's settings, then you will see the same culture everywhere in different towns. It's boring, isn't it? So I have totally different thoughts about designing animation versus games in my mind. In "Cross", I wanted to express a faint feeling of a unified look in a rough atmosphere where everything is possible. I'm pleased if people feel like that.

Nobuteru Yuuki Profile

Born on December 24th, 1962, in Kouenji, Suginami, Tokyo; he moved to Heda, Saitama starting junior high school. He started working right after graduating high school and afterwards got into the field of animation. Through original comics he became an animation director in the OVA "Shin Mashinden".

After that he was busy as an animation director and a creator of original manga, movies and OVAs. His masterpieces include the movie "The five star stories" and the OVA "Record of Lodoss War", and many more.

He's known for the manga "Vaelber Saga" (issued by Fujimi Shobo), as well as others. In video game characters design, he notably worked on "Seiken Densetsu 3" (developed and published by SFC, Square).

Notes:

Tatsunoko Production created the movie "The super dimension fortress Macross / Do You Remember Love?" utilizing staff from different studios.

Mr. Hideaki Anno created a big movement all over Japan via his anime "Neon Genesis Evangelion", in which he was director and scenario planner. He also worked in animation for Macross as an animator. Mr. Yuuki says, "His animations are genius. He became famous as a director but I believe he is the child of an animator."

An anime TV series "Bionic Six" was televised only in the United States. It contained 100 volumes as feature animation, with content featuring very mysterious and intense stories.

In those days, America had started discovering works very different from previous Western comics, such as those lead by Frank Miller. Mr. Yuuki was affected by Miller's work, as well as that of Bill Sienkiewicz and Frank Frazetta. American comics had a big influence on his designs; he was shocked and overwhelmed by their talent.

The SNES game "Seiken Densetsu 3 (Square)" was the first work for which Mr. Yuuki designed the characters; it was also his first game that he played. "I played it obsessively. I didn't know that such an interesting thing existed! The sound of the battle played in my head all the time in those days."

This Serge is equipped in a fairly wild style. Odds are this guy would probably be scolded by Leena or Kid for trying dirty things.

This rugged looking Serge emanates an aura from his whole body of a fearless drifter. Completely different from the normal Serge.

Formal wear Serge. Lightly studded with accessories.

There was also a test Serge that wore a green and purple vest.

Lynx

The appearance of a drifter, or a nobleman that was turned down. “Very similar to a Mongolian,” was the strange reason for the drawing.

A sudden change, this is a more full on cat style Lynx. This one actually seems a little more obscene.

This is a more human version, rather than a cat like creature. Maybe the factor that he didn’t really look villainous was why he was turned down.

Harle

Tough to request any other characters to have more of an impacting appearance. Here’s a more clownish style.

113 Dario, Glenn, Karsh (GlitterBerri)

Karsh:

Though Karsh is a brave knight, saying he is troubled and strange would be closer to the point...

Karsh with armour. It was judged that he looked like too much of a knight and didn't fit with the game's atmosphere, perhaps [the armour] was discarded?

Though misunderstood because of his character flaws, Karsh is one of the most attractive characters of Chrono Cross.

Dario

It's hard to tell in-game, but Dario is actually quite tall. Is this due to his Garai blood?

The epaulets on Dario's armor are big, differentiating him from Karsh.

Perhaps due to our (too?) strong desire to make the leader of the Acacia Dragoons a large figure, Dario gives off a rather amusing impression of a middle-aged fellow.

He looks more like a samurai than a knight? With his slender sword, Dario has an uncanny resemblance to a samurai.

Glenn

Glenn's appearance is that of a boy knight. His hairstyle is also the so-called "zealous hero." It wouldn't even be a stretch to call him the game's protagonist.

119 Unused Characters (Chris)

Mechanical Doll

By combining various parts you could probably control the style and settings of her attacks. It’s a shame she was turned down.

Baker’s Daughter

Looks like a character that attacks with the bread she holds. The top picture looks like a child, while the one on the left is more developed.

Grappler

Appears to be a Chinese monk that uses his hands. Thinking about the salesclerk on page 118, maybe they originally planned a Chinese style town.

Ninja

Like the RPG’s of yesterday, there was always a ninja. This also could have been a variation of Grobyc.

Journeyer to the West (?)

What? There was a plan in Chrono Cross to have a Journeyer to the West (Character from a Manga)? Maybe some sort of heroic female preist, or a character wearing all seeing goggles…or whatever Square’s interpretation was.

“Our intention was to ensure the playability wouldn’t be exhausted after one or two clears.”

※The article to the right was organized based on the input of each staff member.

CHRONO CROSS ULTIMANIA

We didn't want to take a step down from the quality of the last game.

What process was used in making an RPG like Chrono Cross?

“First of all, Kato (the scenario writer) writes down the flow of all the events, then each event director fills in the details according to his own image. Our RPG was created in this fashion, with many event directors having responsibility, but at the same time being at liberty to create using their own vision.”

Was it difficult to achieve consistency with so many people working on events?

”Certainly, at times when we tried putting everyone’s work together, we came across parts that wouldn’t mesh. This time around especially scene setup seemed to cause the most difficulty, and only in the end did consistency follow.”

By “scene setup” do you mean the parallel worlds?

“Home World and Another World were, in reality, very complex. Even we had times when we mixed up where events were supposed to be taking place. *laughing* When these two people talk together, the scene goes one way, but when those two talk, they don’t have the same knowledge of the circumstances, so it goes another way. We had to pay attention to all sorts of things while setting up scenes.”

But it’s certain that the players’ enjoyment of the game increased due to the time you put in. It’s rare to find an RPG where the dialogue changes according to the party members.

“Chrono Trigger had a good reputation because of that, and we felt that even though the number of characters had increased, to take a step down from the quality of the last game would be a bad move. Only, the task of writing messages for all the party members was close to impossible, so we introduced an automatic speech generation program (->P.76). It’s the creation of Yoshii, here. It’s an exceptionally useful program that allows us to write one message, and then if the party members are changed, the message will be run through the program and adjusted to reflect the characters’ way of speaking.”

That’s quite the ground-breaking program.

“In order to work with the program, event directors had a mysterious way of writing messages. ”‘Person 1’ saw that person ‘Ending Word,’” etc. Then when you’d put it into the program, you’d get “Poshul saw that person!” The program was wonderfully convenient, but it couldn’t cover everything. For detailed events, each message had to be written by hand. That in itself was an enormous a-mount of work.

Because of all the troubles that must have arisen due to it being a game with a vast amount of friendly characters, where did you get the idea of having 45 possible allies (including the protagonists) in the first place?

“Around the time we began development we had plans to do a short game where we were thinking you’d be able to recruit lots of allies and enjoy the variations in the messages and events. To top it off, we’d planned to have it so that you could befriend anyone in town. Using both the battle and the talk button, you’d gradually increase your number of allies. But we limited it at the extent you’d expect, first at 64 characters and then in the end it was decreased to 45.”

I think even that’s more than enough. *laughing*

”Actually, we’d gone as far as talking about giving each character an ending. Each ending would fork into 3, depending on the conditions, resulting in 120 in all! ... When talk turned to who was going to make all of these, the idea soon died out.”*laughing*

Those endings disappeared, but the multiple endings that were a feature in Chrono Trigger were succeeded anyway.

“Around the time development was nearing its final stages we decided that it just wouldn’t be a Chrono game without the endings and began to work on them. The multiple endings consist of serious finales that wrap up the scenarios of the original story, but also some slightly comical endings and endings with hidden elements. We wanted to let the players do things by themselves. There are even dark endings.” *laughing*

Which ending would you like the players to see most?

“If we have to pick one, it would be the ‘Development Room’. Most of the development staff make an appearance and talk about a variety of things.”

It was a surprise to see that “Reset!” from Chrono Trigger’s Development Room had undergone a revamp. *laughing*

“We think the game has a lot of highlights, that included. Take it as a sign of our playful hearts!”

There's a secret under Zoah's mask.

Were there any rejected events or the like?

“There were several events that weren’t disarded, but just couldn’t be put in due to time constraints. We wanted to have events for all the allies. We had a variety of thoughts concerning Zoah, for example.”

There ought to have been a scene for the Viper Room, something more than just opening chests. *laughing*

”We might not be able to talk about the official game now, but there’s a secret under Zoah’s iron mask. It’s said that his face was once injured in war and now he hides the wound with an iron mask, but in reality he’s wearing it so as not to reveal his identity. Zoah‘s role was to be that of the prince of a certain country, secretly watching over the protagonists’ doings from the beginning. If you had chosen the forest route (Slash Route) when it came time to infiltrate the Viper Room, you ought to have been able to see an event shedding light on Zoah‘s true identity.”

Even with the elements you weren’t able to include, Chrono Cross is still an enormous game.

“To be honest, even we were suprised upon playing the completed game. In the beginning we intended for it to be possible to clear the game in 20 hours and then have players play through it several more times to see the multiple endings. However, when we put everything together, it just got longer and longer.”

If you’re trying to get all the characters’ Lvl. 7 elements, you can keep playing for ages.

“There are lots of things like that. For example, after you defeat the final boss, each character says a few words, but every character in the game has something to say. Since there are characters whose words are important, try to see them all if you can!”

Is that something one has to clear the game dozens of times to do? *laughing*

“Yep. *laughing* Well, it does become a little easier using the save data right before the ending.”

No doubt there are people who will read what’s written here and continue to play Chrono Cross for a long time.

“The save data trick above is a bit of a freebie, but even during the main story, if one gets all the characters, views every scenario fork, gets all elements to Lvl. 7, and watches every ending, well, we didn’t want the game to get old after 1 or 2 times, so please, play through carefully!”

Kiyoshi Yoshii - Main Program (Event/Movie/Related/Etc.)

"In my opinion we were able to implement programs that rivaled even the quality of Final Fantasy."

Hiroki Chiba - Event (Lizard Rock/Mt. Pyre/Gaea's Navel/ Etc.)

"Play through once and you're missing out on half the fun! I want you to continue playing for 2 or 3 clears."

Ryouji Uchimichi - Event (Viper Manor/Chronopolis/Terra Tower/Etc.)

"Even within the same event you can change the expansion of the story just by mixing up the order of the characters."

Yuusuke Kigoshi - Event (Termina/Fort Dragonia/S.S. Zelbess/Etc.)

"I really put a lot of effort into the event with Nikki's scene. That map is the only one that was made using 3D."

Yoshitsugu Saito - Event (World Map/Guldove/Etc.)

"Speaking of caverns that differ from world to world, there may or may not be a hole worth checking out on Earth Dragon Isle."

Ryou Tsurumaki - Map ID Data Creation & Mask Processing

"Upon entering the other side of the tree, check out the mask there (the process that hides the characters)."

Mika Fukawa - Character Concept Design

"Karsh was tough to design. As having a regular pretty-boy would be boring, I was told to put him in hakama!"

Kou Arai - Scenery Graphic & Map Design

"I designed the maps in such a way as to make sure they weren't pretty yet difficult to understand."

Tomoki Chiba - Map Modeling & Menu Design

"The CG of the maps was all modeled in 3D and then the best angle was chosen to be the 2D pre-rendered shot."

We adopted a style ubiquitous to fighting games to calculate things like the bending of the joints.

—–Chrono Cross’s “Cross Sequence Battle System” ambitiously incorporated a variety of elements. Would you say this was done as a service to the players?

“Tanaka (the producer) thought up the general concept, though at first the system was something more approaching a card game. You’d play by using your hand of cards to strike the enemy. That’s how the elements were conceived. However, we set up things to make the game as easy as possible to play and things gradually relaxed into their present form.”

—–It must have been difficult to put each new idea you’d planned into tangible form.

“Certainly, everything about making the game was difficult. No experience points, a mountain of party characters… For example, when thinking up weak, medium, and strong direct attacks, each one has around 6 motion patterns. On top of that, they all have movement data for when when the motion is canceled halfway through. As we made it we joked that it was pretty much an action game.” *laughing*

—–You understand how elaborate the characters’ motions are when you enlarge them in the menu screen.

“In order to display exaggerated movements we opted not to use motion capture. We instead manually created the movements one at a time, but the amount of data that required was nothing to scoff at. However, we had fun creating it and we didn’t think the work was too intense.”

—–The smooth motions had me thinking “Wow, they did a good job.”

“We adopted a style ubiquitous to fighting games to calculate things like the bending of the joints. The most visible result of that might be Dario’s coat. We think we did a pretty good job making it move like real cloth. Also, we want you to see how awesomely the slime- and jelly-like monsters move.” *laughing*

—–It’s really easy to visually understand how much the monsters are weakened by the extent of the damage you deal.

“That’s due to something we call ‘clinging on’. When we started making the monsters, we were shown FFVIII, also in development at the time, and told by the higher-ups, ‘If you fail at this, you’ll know.’ *laughing* ‘Clinging on’, where the monster shows signs of weakening near the end of a battle, is what we struggled to implement in order to overthrow FFVIII.”

We tried to do the battle scenes in the style of a comedy game.

—–For the debut of the only 3D RPG of its kind in the world, when it comes to the characters’ special moves or the battle effects, isn’t there a tendency to cram everything in?

“It was difficult to think them up, but when you wring your brain you get a variety of ideas. This game, especially, had a lot of skilled staff so the planners just passed on the nuances of what they were thinking and the people responsible for various sections added their own arrangements, which made it easy to do. There were definitely parts that were hit-or-miss, but we feel like they were covered by the experience points.”

—–Fire- and thunder-type magic are so common that you can say they’re in every RPG, but do you ever research effects used by other games?

“No, we don’t. *laughing* If you research other games, you’ll be influenced by the memory of their effects. If your thoughts come from within, they’ll always be original. It’s best to create using ideas that float to the top of your head. If there are effects cooler than the ones you made it just means that you should create something new of the same class.”

—–When you were creating the effects was there anything you were careful about?

“Final Fantasy already embodies a cool game in a more orthodox school, so we were wondering if we should distance ourselves from that path. *laughing* That’s why this game has lots of silly effects. Call the alloy, Robo, and he cooks the enemies. *laughing* This idea was rejected, but one of the summon elements that we planned to have make an appearance was a stripper. She’d gradually take off her clothes, then, at the end of her routine, all of a sudden sprout butterfly wings and the camera would move to her back, causing the monsters facing her to get nosebleeds and receive damage from the large quantity of blood loss.” *laughing*

—-That’s amazing. *laughing*

“We tried to do the battle scenes in the style of a comedy game, you see. *laughing* We said that if games like Final Fantasy or Vagrant Story were Star Wars, then we were Austin Powers. *laughing* Trying to make people laugh whatever the situation was a route that hadn’t been taken before, so we got over-enthusiastic and went too far.”

Our job was to squeeze every last drop out of the Playstation’s capabilities.

—–I’d love to ask you about every little detail. When using the command “Auto-Allocate”, what rules are the elements arranged by?

“Each element has a set value depending on how effective it is, how frequently it’s used… a variety of data. Then they’re arranged from the highest value to the lowest.”

—–So, why is Tsumaru (Pip, known as “Packed” in Japanese) called Tsumaru?

“Because we like packing things in. Open a barrel and it’s full of stuff, open a cupboard and it’s full of stuff, that sort of thing. *laughing* We didn’t do much of that in-game, so we figured we had to pack something in and made a “Tsumaru Gun” skill as one of the elemental techniques. It’s a silly skill where you pack yourself into a cannon and shoot out.” *laughing*

—–Starting from the second play-through you can adjust the game speed in real time. Wasn’t that really difficult on the programming side?

“We feel that it’s the programmers’ job to squeeze every last drop out of the Playstation’s capabilities. However, the point isn’t just to show off one’s skill. we think that the most important attitude to have involves considering ways to make the player enjoy themselves, and then doing our best to implement them.”

—–So, is it safe to say that Chrono Cross made the most of the Playstation’s capabilities?

“Well, if we’d tried to do the impossible, there might’ve still been ways we could have made it work for us, but in the development staff’s opinion, we were able to express everything but the tiniest speck. Of course, we might be a little conceited.” *laughing*

Could you tell us how you stepped into the path of music and how you first became interested in composing music for video games?

Mitsuda: Usually, the people who follow that path tend to be in a band during high school. However, that was not the case for me. I just went home and enjoyed watching movies and that's how I spent my free time. I loved watching "The Railroad Man" and movies that cast Audrey Hepburn, and the music in it was so good. I started thinking, "It would be awesome if I could create movie soundtracks like that" and my dreams gradually leaned towards music. I was an assistant of a man whom one could call a "master" in a 2 year college I attended. He just so happened to be composing video game music, and when I was close to graduating and getting a full-time job, I was skimming through the game magazines that were in my work place, I saw an ad from Square saying they needed a music composer and I applied and got hired by them.

Your debut first official composition was "Chrono Trigger" correct?

Mitsuda: In the beginning, I was in charge of the sound effect department, but I wanted to compose music, so I kept trying to convince Sakaguchi-san (Hironobu Sakaguchi, Vice President of Square at the time) directly of my desire to compose music. Well, at the time, I was not in a very good financial situation (laughs bitterly). Then, Sakaguchi-san gave me an opportunity to compose music for a game named "Chrono Trigger" and I am very grateful to him for that.

And this time, you composed for "Chrono Cross" as a freelancer...

Mitsuda: When I first received this offer, I couldn't believe it. I quit Square and Square has many composers and I assumed one of them will be the one composing. But Kato-san, who was the director, strongly convinced the others for me to do it. And in that situation, I thought "I gotta give my best to create the best music."

What kind of theme did you use to compose music for "Chrono Cross"?

Mitsuda: I had previously worked on "Xenogears" and that game's composition was based on Orchestrated sound. As you may already know many RPG's use Orchestrated sound, but I wanted to take them into a different direction and discussed this with Kato-san. And what I am really good at is creating Traditional music. It was then decided that we use Tradtional sound as a base and center the music around the guitar.

How did Traditional music become your forte?

Mitsuda: While I was in that 2 year college, my master heavily worked on Asian music, and because of that, I became interested and totally got into it. I've been working on those types of music ever since, but I realized that it was quite maniacal and if you listen to it normally, it's just too much for Japanese people. So I wanted to find a way to make it very pleasant to listen to it with the "foreign country" music feel. I think the work I put in has paid off to the music I've recently composed.

"The opening theme ended up exceeding my expectation"

Chrono Cross centers around parallel worlds, did you compose it with that theme in mind?

Mitsuda: I first thought about making songs that are totally different songs for each world, But as you go back and forth those worlds, I thought that the player would not be able to distinguish between the worlds. But if I made totally different music for 2, one'd lose that feeling and I didn't want that. So I composed them with a similar tone but a little different type of feel. Generally speaking, I arranged it so that HOME WORLD is brighter, and ANOTHER WORLD has darker music.

Mitsuda: Yes. I adapted them so that I don't betray "Chrono Trigger" fans, and although it's not very well known, but I also used elements from "Radical Dreamers" so that people who know that game will notice them. Chrono Cross has its own uniqueness as well so, it's basically a mix of 3 sounds to create 1 outlook on the worlds.

I really love the ending theme with the vocals. It has a really nice atmosphere.

Mitsuda: We've already decided that we'll be putting in vocals to it from the beginning due to Kato-san's strong demand for them. Noriko Mitose, who is an artist who Kato-san has recruited, has a very transparent voice. We wanted to make use of her voice and the warm sound of the guitar to create tone, so we decided not to use any other instruments. We asked Tomohiko Kira from ZABADAK, with whom I worked in the past when we were creating the arranged version of Xenogears's soundtrack, to play the crucial guitar parts.

Any song you like in particular?

Mitsuda: Opening theme of course! (Chrono Cross ~ Scars of Time, disc 1, track 1) It far exceeded my expectation and I think it gives an enormous impact to the listener. Though, unexpectedly, I like "Jelly Fish Sea" (Disc 3, track 4) as well... I think. I doubt there are many people who like that song (laughs).

And any songs that were hard to compose?

Mitsuda: Fortress of Ancient Dragon (Disc 1, track 24). I received "redo" from Kato-san 3-4 times (laughs). It was really hard to come up with a song that has a scary tone but is easy to accompany. Kato-san is really fastidious (laughs). He has a huge collection of music CD's himself, and because of that, he'll demand more from even the very small parts of the song. I don't think there are any directors who are able to demand that much from music (laughs). But that's why it is really fun to work with him.

"I think people should create songs that sway the player's feelings."

What do you consider good game music?

Mitsuda: People try to make it sound like music from movies, but I personally think that game music is its own genre, which is why I love game composers who do not copy other genres. A game's value partly lies in it allowing the player to move its characters around on the screen. I think people should create songs that sway the player's feelings.

Speaking of players, at what age did you start playing video games?

Mitsuda: I started playing in the era of "The Black Onyx", so way back then. Around 1982, when PC-8801 was released. Back then, the game's art, and Japan Famicom's game music were so awesome!

I see. I did sense a very old game feel from your songs, and I was right about that. Speaking of which, as I approached the last battle in Chrono Cross, it reminded me of The Black Onyx. At that time, everyone was stuck on that particular part "Iro, Ikkaizutsu"

Mitsuda: Indeed (laughs). And when you say The Black Onyx, ....(he starts talking about old PC games passionately). I really think old game music was well composed. I think current game music lacks in its own uniqueness due to the fact that its range has expanded. I think it would be great if people could compose music while infusing the video games with their own personality, and I'm in the process of thinking of a way to do that right now.

Lastly, anything you'd like to send a message to people who enjoyed Chrono Cross's music?

Mitsuda: I think there are many people for whom the Chrono Cross soundtrack was their first time listening to my music, but if you end up really liking even one song, I will be very happy that I composed Chrono Cross's music. I'll be trying things like making my own album, playing live, and concerts. If you have a chance, please come and listen and get into the world of Mitsuda! (laughs)

Room #5 - Masato Kato

Translated by Chris.

“Serge and Kid were where I tried the hardest, moreover making a ‘boy meets girl’ kinda thing”

In the pace of Radical Dreamers

Interviewer – Many user’s (this magazine) have been hopefully waiting for a sequel to Chrono Trigger (CT), and finally you have made an appearance. Since you (Kato) were the scenario director for the previous games, you’ve thought a lot about the series. This time around, how are the story elements going to continue or take over from the previous games?

Kato – CT wasn’t just me (Square), but Yuji Hori and Akira Toriyama were also involved in creating it. If these members met again right now, I think a serious attempt to make a CT 2 is not at all a realistic possibility. When talking with the producer Tanaka about the possibility of making a new Chrono game, I was requested to do in the storyline vein of Radical Dreamers (RD).

I – Your talking about the text adventure game that came out on the Stellaview, right?

Kato – Yeah. Honestly, there were some story elements and unfinished business that I wanted to create in a sequel to CT itself. It seemed like there was another story in a parallel dimension. If we could do in that pace, I’d like to try making in the same flow and direction as the level of the Chrono series. Also, for RD, we only had 2-3 months to develop it, and I didn’t get to a point where I felt satisfied. I think I’d like to get that a little more completed too, since it’s always been in my heart.

I – The title “Chrono” is attached, but is the influence of RD also very strong?

Kato – This time I think we were really lucky. Many people played the Super Nintendo title CT, so first of all there was a hope to have a sequel or remake. Also, no one knew about RD, since it barely slipped by production. I like the story of RD, but we left it unfinished in an emergency rush, chased by the engaging gears of production. I wanted to somehow take it up again, since I thought about it daily. What’s more, I didn’t know that CT was being ported to the PS. (laughs)

I – Oh, you didn’t know? (laughs)

Kato – I learned about halfway through the completion of Chrono Cross (CC). Actually, I knew that CT was going to be ported. (laughs) I went to anime movie meetings for the porting publisher and we talked about connecting CT to CC with some hints through the ending movie. Like how we could link the pieces together well.

I – There was only a difference of two weeks in the release dates of the ported CT and CC. (In Japan, at least…)

Kato – It was to give a feeling of wanting to continue playing. CT was already released 5 years before on the Super Nintendo. There were easily some people who forgot the story, or people who weren’t even the age to play it. That’s why we planned from the beginning to not have it take over the exact story. The people who wouldn’t have played the first game would have no reason for playing a game they couldn’t understand. Taking this into consideration, we thought about the timing, having the ported CT come before CC. If we did that, CC could be played right after CT, and the story relationships would be somewhat strengthened. That way, the previous game could be incorporated better.

I – Thinking about the various connections between CT and CC, what’s enjoyable now is not necessarily understanding the Chrono world, but actually playing it. That in mind, there are no real ways to play RD. To the Chrono fans, are there any stories from the works that could be handed down?

Kato – Actually, about RD, there was some attempt before CC was put on the market. The Stellaview data was planned to be put on a ROM cartridge and connected to a premier at Akihabara (Electronics district in Tokyo, nerd central). The porting development team heard this and wanted to put all of RD into the CT Playstation port, but was told to leave it as it was. I also rejected it. It was made four years about, and when I read the script now, I’m easily embarrassed. While the development of the RD story is in CC, I think there’s no reason you need to understand RD to enjoy CC.

I – Where did you get the conception to use parallel worlds as a platform?

Kato – From the get-go, I was against using time travel exactly like in CT, but wanted to keep on the same level in the series. Eventually, we decided not to do the “If something happened in the past, could it change the future?” pattern. If we did that, we would only be rehashing and cranking up the volume of the last game. That wasn’t at all what we wanted to do.

I – It’s only natural that you wouldn’t want to do something like that.

Kato – Yeah. If we ended up doing that, the gameplay wouldn’t dramatically change at all, would it? So we thought a bit about it, and I really liked CT’s style, but since we did time travel then, this time would be parallel worlds. Doing it this way made perfect sense to me. (literal translation: straight into my head it popped and fit) So, we started thinking about what would be most interesting when using parallel worlds as a platform.

I – Like meeting Kid in the world that you died in.

Kato – From a cursory look, it looks like the normal world, but some things are different. Then, the main character realizes the biggest shock of all…he’s supposedly dead. So he’s living in one world and not in another, and the puzzle begins; “Why did I die?” From there, Lynx gets involved, there are hints that fate is controlling the world, there are the six dragons symbolizing nature, and so on. Then, from CT, there’s more about Lavos, when Lavos came, how it lifted primitive people up to create a magic kingdom, and other connections. Maybe even Lavos was the trigger than caused humans to evolve from monkeys. Elements like that incorporate into each other, one after another. We thought about how it would flow together smoothly to surprise the players in the best way.

I – What was the main theme you tried to write into this work?

Kato – I usually don’t care too much for themes. The most important thing is whether the game is enjoyable. For this time…well, I already talked about the time element, but in CT I couldn’t write much about what happened to Schala. What truly could have happened what left an unfinished story, and that’s why I chose to properly complete it. Since both games could be played, I chose to make a conclusion between the worlds of CT and CC.

I – So you wanted to connect the works with the relationships between Serge and Kid, and also Schala.

Kato – To pin it down, Serge and Kid were where I tried the hardest, moreover making a ‘boy meets girl’ kinda thing. A kid named Serge meets a girl named Kid and together they get wrapped up in an adventure. From the world he doesn’t know about secrets are slowly revealed, about Serge himself, Schala from the past, and how fate is tied in. This could just be an ending where boy meets girl and they do their story, but perhaps there’s another dimension, another story, a different meeting, and a completely different life story that you could have. I persistently tried my hardest to get the player to question things like this.

I – So for a good ending movie, you tried to use the crossing point of a young girl and her other side to imagine “a story in another dimension.”

Kato – Yeah, like that. I thought that was the perfect material to use to give meaning to a parallel world. In each independent parallel world there would be respective developing stories. If we did it that way, people at home could use the experience of Serge in the game’s worlds to think about the reality of their own world. Maybe somewhere in our world there’s a Kid, and surely someday we will find and meet. For a long time I’ve wanted realizations developed from games to not just stop with the game, and now I feel I’ve done it right. There’s a message that comes after the ending movie finished, and I hope that all players will understand these words that have come from my heart. That’s what I’d love to have happen.

Takashi Tokita was a director for Chrono Trigger. In one of these interviews, he mentions a "Chrono Trigger 2", and thanks to Lorenz, we now know the context.

Interviewer: Speaking of a change of environment, in April of this year Square welcomed a big change when we merged with Enix. What was really going on at the developer?

Tokita: The various operations departments at Square had been used to working independently, but then Enix entered into the picture. This meant a lot more chefs in the kitchen and, in a good way, served to shake things up a bit. I feel like the company is moving in a positive direction. That's why I feel like there could be a discussion about making a game like Chrono Trigger 2. But there is a big difference between someone upstairs bellowing "Make this game!" and the people in the trenches deciding themselves that they want to work on this project. It's a matter of motivation. Of course, this is true for the operations departments and the whole merger itself, but the real theme here is having motivated people make the plans and set the budgets. If you don't want to do something, naturally you won't try your hardest to make it a success, and I don't really think that you can make an interesting product that way, either.

Interview: And with that, I'm sure all of our dear readers who know of Mr. Tokita are thinking, "Hey, you're forgeting all about that game!" "That game" being one that is exceptionally important to Mr. Tokita's career—that's right, Hanshuku Hero. As a matter of fact, that's the next topic we're going to cover, so let's wrap this up.

Yasunori Mitsuda: Born on January 21, 1972 in Yamaguchi Prefecture. After graduating from a music-based junior college, Mitsuda joined Square in 1992.

After becoming independent, Mitsuda founded Procyon Studio in 2001.

[The Cue to Compose Music]

Since my high school days, I really loved movies. On my way home from school, I used to stop by a video rental store and rent massive quantities of movies; however, among them, I came across an Italian film titled, The Railroad Man, and the music was exceptional. I thought, “If only I could make music like that, too...” and guess that was my cue. I also had an interest in drawing, but since my father was an artist, I didn't really want to do the same thing as him. The timing was perfect. (laughs)

[Prone to Illness]

During production, I was inevitably ill. During Chrono Trigger, I had a stomach ulcer, and while it was quite serious, I was not hospitalized. In the end, I couldn't make the deadline in time alone and received help from Nobuo Uematsu. During Tobal No. 1, the arranger and I worked in the studio for a month straight. We began in the summer, but when we finished it was autumn. It seems it was “freeeeezing” outside! (laughs) I wasn't composing just one title at the time, but several titles simultaneously when I then ended up with bloody stool! (laughs)

And then, when the soundtrack for Xenogears was published, I finally collapsed from overworking. Someone must have mistakenly called an ambulance to carry me away that time because with the early mornings at Square there were also others besides myself who looked pale; like those that stayed and worked all night and those who usually got little sleep. When I questioned, “Who called the ambulance?” I collapsed with the telephone receiver in my hand. (laughs) That was the reason the release date for the Xenogears' soundtrack was delayed.

[Compositions]

The melodies of Chrono Cross are pieces that even I merely like. At the time, the number of supported syllables was limited and I had to think about what should be done if I needed to consider cutting corners, so I am pretty glad that the support has been obtained. My most important task is making music with meaning. With the practice of approaches like, “The music should flow with this scene at this point!” the music I compose is often unlike what other composers are doing. Despite Xenogears taking over 80 hours to clear, the number of tracks is limited because of the challenges that producing essential pieces presents. It's not just a dozen of compositions that I want to leave an impression with, it's with all that I wish to leave an impression.

Unexpectedly, it's not the perfected pieces that are popular. I can see how a smoothly done piece may be popular when it's released, (laughs) but I am surprised that a track like Robo's Theme from Chrono Trigger, which is something I don't normally do, is highly popular. A composition that I thought was perfect would have to be Xenosaga's opening with the movie and several frames of variation made to switch precisely on the beat in order to show live footage in between. Also, in Shadow Hearts II, the arrangement of Colonel Hyuga's piece, another previous composition that I had worked on, flowed “deliciously” well with the scene. Please definitely try and give my favorite compositions a listen.